Abgang and Kaddish Quartet

Faced with the same instrumentation as Messiaen’s iconic Quartet for the End of Time, composed in a POW camp during World War II, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich was moved to give voice to those less fortunate prisoners who would never return home. Zwilich’s chilling memorial quotes music created in concentration camps, drawing on two short excerpts to create an artistic view of a death march and song of grieving.

Faced with the same instrumentation as Messiaen’s iconic Quartet for the End of Time, composed in a POW camp during World War II, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich was moved to give voice to those less fortunate prisoners who would never return home. Zwilich’s chilling memorial quotes music created in concentration camps, drawing on two short excerpts to create an artistic view of a death march and song of grieving.