Debussy: String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10

When one considers the string quartet, one tends to think of the great Germanic composers of this genre, with French counterparts often being forgotten. This collection, however, brings together a series of French string quartets which are extraordinary in their own right. Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor Op.10 of 1893 is demonstrative of the composer’s exposure to Javanese music at the Exposition Universelle of three years earlier, and also shows the Russian influence of Borodin, which can be heard in the slow movement. When Ravel composed his own String Quartet in 1902–3, which he dedicated to Gabriel Fauré, similarities were found between this and Debussy’s: these include the four-movement structure of both and the second movement Scherzos’ definite hints of exoticism. However, thanks to his beautiful melodies for both the cello and the violin, Ravel managed to create a turning point in his career with this innovative composition.

Dutilleux’s quartet is written in an entirely different style, based neither on harmony nor counterpoint, as with Debussy and Ravel respectively, but through the notion of a pivot note, with each movement built up around a single tone. Ainsi la nuit offers a certain eclecticism, with the composer contrasting the influences of Gregorian chant, the night sky and the sounds of nature to create a visionary piece.

The critically acclaimed Juillard Quartet, established in 1946 by founders Robert Mann and William Schuman, is one of the most recorded string quartets of all time. The ensemble has led an active life of international tours and has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls.

New booklet note by French music expert Robert Orledge.

This new recording devoted to quartets by Debussy and Ravel, bearing the Slavic accent of Prague's Talich Quartet, is truly marvellous. The album represents a new phase in the quartet’s career that will highlight the sheer versatility of this talented group, so proud of its illustrious roots.

NEW RECORDING 2012

This double album brings together two recordings from 2004 and 2006 in which the Cuarteto Casals opportunely demonstrated its virtuosity and the links between figures as different as Turina, Ravel, Debussy and Zemlinsky.

The Brodsky Quartet celebrates its fortieth anniversary this year. Formed in 1972, the Quartet quickly emerged at the forefront of the international chamber music scene. It has performed more than 2000 concerts and made more than fifty highly acclaimed recordings. Now exclusive Chandos artists, the Brodsky players are releasing their second disc on Chandos with guest soloists Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and the harpist Sioned Williams.

The Trio for piano, violin, and cello is an early work, written before Debussy established his own very distinctive musical language heard in pieces such as La Mer. Another early piece, Rêverie, for piano, was written by the young, struggling composer at a time when he was trying to make a living in Paris. The easiest market to break into for a composer was the salon, where songs and not-too-taxing piano music were in demand. Rêverie was one of several charming and tuneful works that Debussy wrote for this scene.

In a somewhat different league, the String Quartet is considered a defining work in the history of chamber music. Sensual and impressionistic, it employs a cyclic structure that constituted a split from the rules of classical form and pointed the way forward. In the words of Pierre Boulez, Debussy freed chamber music from ‘rigid structure, frozen rhetoric, and rigid aesthetics’.

The Deux Danses, made up of the ‘Danse sacrée’ and ‘Danse profane’, complete the disc. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Parisian instrument makers Pleyel invented a ‘chromatic harp’ which dispensed with pedals and achieved the full chromatic compass from two rows of strings that slanted across one another. Debussy was approached to write two pieces intended for a final examination of the Pleyel model. ‘Danse sacrée’ makes use of Church modes, while ‘Danse profane’ is a kind of sarabande. The ‘competition’ aspect of the pieces is highlighted by the fact that, after the opening introduction, the harpist has no more than six bars’ rest. As it happened, the Pleyel model never caught on, and the works are now always performed on a pedal harp.

Antje Weithaas, Daniel Sepec, Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras founded the Arcanto Quartet in 2002. The four musicians, who in addition to their musical affinities share a close personal friendship, quickly conquered the world of chamber music and have played all the major European venues. The 2009/10 season started with a tour of Japan in September, followed by a residency at the Wigmore Hall, where the quartet invited Jörg Widmann, Silke Avenhaus and Olivier Marron for several concerts. This autumn, the Arcantos will visit North America. For their third CD for harmonia mundi they perform three French String Quartets, all by composers who wrote little chamber music. Debussy and Ravel composed their only string quartet at the start of their careers, whereas Dutilleux wrote Ainsi la nuit shortly before his 60th birthday. Debussy’s quartet, dedicated to the Ysaÿe Quartet, is his only work to possess an opus number. Written in 1892-3, it comprises the standard four movements and adopts sonata form in the two outer movements. The String Quartet of Ravel was composed in 1902-03 and premiered by the Heyman Quartet on 5 March 1904. It possesses undeniable signs of kinship with the Debussy work: it conforms to the cyclic principle, and begins and ends with a sonata form movement; its scherzo is similarly characterised by crackling pizzicatos which stylise the sound of the guitar and give the movement a Spanish colour; as with Debussy, the strings play with mutes in the first and last sections of the slow movement. The works of Dutilleux are rare and matured at length. Commissioned by the Serge Koussevitzky Foundation, Ainsi la nuit occupied the composer from 1971 to 1976. Dedicated ‘to the memory of Ernest Sussman [an American art-lover and friend of the composer] and in homage to Olga Koussevitzky’, it was premièred by the Parrenin Quartet at the Théâtre de l’Est Parisien on 6 January 1977.

The Dante Quartet continue their award-winning exploration of the French string quartet with this disc which includes two of the greatest works of this genre.

Both quartets dazzled and disturbed at their first performances. Debussy’s fantastic, spiralling variations, resisting orthodox ‘development’ of ideas, is described as reminiscent of Monet’s in recording the variations of light on the façade of Rouen Cathedral. Traditionalist commentators were shocked, but the exotic beauty of the writing excited many, including the young Ravel. Ravel’s Quartet is to some extent an hommage to Debussy, but, typically, also a work of startling originality.

Also included is Ravel’s Violin Sonata No 2 in G major, an intriguing, jazz-influenced work, energetic but with a dark undertow of pain; written, as Ravel said, with the aim of ‘exploring the basic incompatibility of violin and piano’.

The current membership of the Australian String Quartet was established in 2006. Among their many accolades, these players were selected to perform a series of concerts to celebrate the Danish Royal Wedding in 2004. This is a wonderful CD filled with dazzling musicianship and virtuoso performances. The quartet is currently touring the UK giving concerts in London and Birmingham.