On Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, performed in the crypt of a church in Harlem. “The four musicians played on broken instruments: Étienne Pasquier’s cello had only three strings; the keys on ...

To receive these posts by email each Monday, sign up. The night before I married his eldest son, my father-in-law read aloud from the Song of Solomon before a crowd of our closest friends and family, ...