AS the January blues bite, it's time to head to the National Gallery of Ireland for a spot of music. Something light to cheer us up, peutetre? Sorreee. The dark and profound piece, Quartet for the End of Time, was written in a German prisoner-of-war camp by Olivier Messiaen. It was first performed 60 years ago on borrowed, damaged instruments by four musicians who were being held in captivity.
A number of happy students from Texas have come along to hear the concert. Kate McCormick, Marianne Snow, Brent Bernell and Robin Lowe are on a two week whistle-stop tour from Kincaid Preparatory School in Houston. They compliment composer Michael Holohan on his pre-concert talk about the brilliant French composer. The pianist Paul Crossley, who has already performed in the festival, is here to listen. Messiaen, who died in 1992, was, he says, "terribly proud of his compositions and very keen that anybody who went to study with him should be equally proud. If you had a God-given gift it was your duty to make the best of it. He wasn't interested in people who didn't work."
John Finucane, the clarinettist, is getting ready to perform. It's a "really heavy piece", he explains. The Mexican Embassy is here to listen - in the form of Miguel Vilchis and his Italian wife, Concetta Vilchis. The Canadian born Dr Miriam Langdon and her husband, Dr Philip Nolan, are here to listen too.
The actor and director, Tim McDonnell, is up near the top of the room. The music "is terrific," he says. The Argentinian ambassador, Victor Beauge and his wife, Isabel Beauge, are also here. Director of the RIAM, John O'Conor, at the back of the hall, is smiling at the prospect of hearing the quartet. Finucane on clarinet; Michael d'Arcy on violin; Aisling Drury Byrne on cello and Therese Fahy on piano are ready. A hush descends and the first eerie notes fill the hall.
