Messiaen, Pärt, Berg & Eno — Soundspaces of Eternity: Clärchen's Sunday concerts in the Mirror Hall

About the Event

Nestled in the vibrant heart of the german capital, embark on an auditory adventure at one of the capital's legendary locations. The Hall of Mirrors at Clärchens Ballhaus, with its lofty ceilings and gleaming walls, captivates with a distinct patina. Noted for its superb acoustics, it stands as a top concert venue.

Olivier Messiaen’s *Quatuor pour la fin du Temps*, composed in 1940 at the Görlitz prisoner‐of‐war camp, ranks among the most impressive works of 20th‐century chamber music. Inspired by the Book of Revelation, it revolves around the suspension of time—a state beyond past and future.

In eight visionary movements, Messiaen unfolds a sonic world in which time is stretched, dissolved, and made perceptible anew. Free rhythms and extreme contrasts between ecstasy and silence transform music here into a “time of the soul.”

The works of Arvo Pärt carry this idea into contemplative sonic spaces. In Spiegel im Spiegel and Pari Intervallo, time is not dramatically transformed but rather transformed into a quiet presence—music as a state of lingering.

Alban Berg’s Four Pieces, Op. 5, form a sharper, more expressive counterpoint: condensed snapshots between tension and fragility, in which time appears as a fragmentary, intense experience.

With Blonde by Brian Eno and Roger Eno, the space opens up into a floating, almost timeless soundscape—minimalist, calm, and radiating a quiet luminosity.

The result is a program that illuminates time from various perspectives: as ecstasy, as a fragment, as space, and as silence—and ultimately as something that eludes any clear definition.

Practical Information

Category reduced/ermäßigt: Valid for students with student ID and children

Please note that the Hall of Mirrors is not wheelchair accessible.