Michael Symmons Roberts talks to Jane Shaw

Poet and librettist Michael Symmons Roberts explains his fascination with Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps and how it led him into an exploration of grief, of personal faith and doubt, and of the end of time and what may lie beyond it.

Messiaen’s quartet was first performed to a crowd of prisoners of war in 1941. It has captivated listeners ever since. Symmons Roberts says he discovered it by chance in a record shop as a teenager. He has now gone in search of the work’s enigmatic power.

‘In this remarkable book, Symmons Roberts explores his complex ongoing relationship with Messiaen’s visionary work, alongside reflections on grief, faith and the creative process . . .  Symmons Roberts writes with wit, beauty and piercing insight . . . In responding to Messiaen’s radiant masterpiece, Symmons Roberts has created a masterpiece of his own’ BBC Music Magazine

Symmons Roberts is professor of poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is a former journalist, radio producer, documentary maker and head of development for BBC religion and ethics. He has written nine volumes of poetry. Corpus was winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award and Drysalter was winner of the Forward Prize and Costa Poetry Prize. His latest collection is Dog Star. Here he talks to Professor Jane Shaw, principal of Harris Manchester College and professor of the history of religion at the University of Oxford.