Seventy five years ago this month, French composer, organist and ornithologist Olivier Messiaen premiered “Quartet for the End of Time” while held captive in a WWII prisoner-of-war camp.

In this playful yet impossibly intricate animated music video, London animation director Simon Russell teams with Oxford professor of mathematics Marcus du Sautoy to explore Messiaen’s complex relationship with math, music and religion.

Simon Russell: “To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, Sinfini Music commissioned me to create an animation around it. I choose the first movement of the work, the Crystal Liturgy.
 
 

 
Client: Sinifini Music, Deutsche Grammophon
Commissioner: Emma Bharj

Production: Vicarage Studio
Director/animator: Simon Russell

Sound Design: Red Horse Studio

Performers:
Claude Desurmont (Clarinet)
Luben Yordanoff (Violin)
Albert Tétard (Cello)
Daniel Barenboim (Piano)

Special thanks: Marcus du Sautoy