Quatuor Xasax

The ambition of this new album by the Zaïde Quartet is to "bring two female composers of yesterday out of the shadows and give them their rightful place in the light of today". "Invisible", as the works of Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn remained for a long time, better known during their lifetime for their ties as virtuoso wives and sisters than for their own artistic genius. Through this programme of works by Clara & Robert Schumann and Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn, the four performers also intend to highlight the invisible links that unite them and allow them to shape a common imagination.

The Quatuor Voce presents Poétiques de l’instant, a long-term project and a diptych of recordings that aim to combine two of the key works in the repertory of any string quartet – the masterpieces of Debussy and Ravel – with other pieces of music and new compositions. This first instalment focuses on Debussy’s Quartet and the Quatuor Voce has enlisted a young composer, Yves Balmer, for the works that revolve around it: he has arranged the Proses lyriques song cycle and has also composed a new piece, Fragments soulevés par le vent. To record this programme, the quartet has chosen to perform alongside three exceptional artists, the soprano Jodie Devos, the flautist Juliette Hurel and the harpist Emmanuel Ceysson.

Simon Zaoui, Pierre Fouchenneret and Raphael Merlin here resume, and complete, their exploration of the chamber works of Gabriel Fauré:, begun in 2018 with the first volume of Horizons. Far from the prevailing trends of the early 20th century, Fauré's music for piano and strings testifies to the singularity of his language, constantly moving between past and future. Joined by violist Marie Chilemme for the two piano quartets, and by members of the Strada Quartet for the string quartet and quintets, the three friends present a carefully considered version of these masterpieces, recorded here for the first time using the material of the new Barenreiter edition.

The Quatuor Voce, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, follows up its two recordings of Mozart with Juliette Hurel ( Alpha 204) and Brahms with Lise Berthaud ( Alpha 214) by inviting us on a journey to central Europe. The three works recorded here were written over a period of twenty years. Two of them allude to their composer’s love lives. Bartók’s First Quartet might be seen as Beethoven’s Quartet no.17. The intense opening Lento is a lyric-dramatic movement that transposes an unhappy experience of love. No previous quartet had come so close to the Beethovenian ideal. Janáček’s Second Quartet reflects his love for Kamila Stösslová, and is a faithful mirror of emotions in all their spontaneous and constantly shifting authenticity. Schulhoff was one of the first Jewish composers to fall victim to Nazi barbarity. Inventive, omnivorously curious, he was a virtuoso pianist who performed both jazz and serial music. His Five Pieces consist of a suite of dances in different styles, successively Alla Valse viennese , Alla Serenata , Alla Czeca , Alla Tango milonga and Alla Tarantella.

Recordings that include strings quartets by Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern are common, but an album that includes music for quartet and voice by each of them is a rarity. Schoenberg's Second String Quartet, with a part for soprano in its third and fourth movements, is standard repertoire, but the version of Berg's Lyric Suite with a vocal part in the final movement is highly unusual, and Webern's bagatelle with voice, an unpublished movement apparently once intended to be part of the Six Bagatelles, Op. 9, receives what is probably its first recording. Novelty aside, the high standards of these performances make this a formidable release. Founded just before the turn of the millennium, Quatuor Diotima plays with the assurance and mutual understanding of a seasoned ensemble. The quartet has a lean, clean sound and the ensemble is immaculate, playing with exquisite expressiveness, an ideal combination for this repertoire.

Founded in 2015 by two friends in the corridors of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris – then under the first name of “Koltès” – the Lontano Quartet has since forged solid ties, united by a very particular attraction for the bubbling and fracas of the 20th century.