Customer Reviews

Quatuor Ébène Performs Ravel, Debussy & Fauré

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This is a fantastic disc. Quatuor Ébène are a brilliant quartet, and their debut disc of Haydn remains a firm favourite of mine. This disc is just as good, showing that they have as much empathy with Ravel, Debussy and Fauré as Haydn and their superb technique, faultless intonation and brilliant mutual understanding are well in evidence here.

BBC Radio 3's Building A Library reviewer recently chose this recording of the Fauré quartet as the best available - in the face of phenomenal competition from the world's best quartets of the last 80 years - and the disc has just won "Recording of the Year" at the 2009 Gramophone Awards - one of the most prestigious awards available anywhere. It's a deserved honour for a terrific recording by a very fine quartet. I'm delighted, and these awards probably say a lot more than I can about the quality of this disc. It's fabulous and very warmly recommended.

What a wonderful CD! The sheer musicality of these guys is amazing. The sounds blend so smoothly that the pieces reveal their organic quality from the first notes. When will they record Mozart next? Performers of the first rank.

[from ionarts.org, Dip Your Ears, No. 96]

The Quatuor Ébène have left audiences moved, enthralled, excited - wherever they have appeared. They have turned impartial critics into groupies and conservative audiences into Jazz-fans, and along the way they've convinced the EMI / Virgin record company to sign them to an exclusive contract. I loved the luxurious releases on the Mirare label (and wish Virgin would lavish similar attention on the presentation of the Ébène's releases), but moving from a boutique label to one of the big players is certainly a move that can only help bring the quartet to yet more audiences. A good thing, too, because their first release is a hit that deserves Billboard status, not just notable obscurity cherished by insiders. Ruthlessly and unabashedly pandering to their own strengths, they chose the primary gems from their repertoire: the Debussy and Ravel quartets, appropriately rounded off with Gabriel Fauré's Quartet, the then 78 year old composer's last work.

This choice of Fauré is ideal. For one it distinguishes them from their in-house rivals' - the Belcea Quartet's - debut album on EMI which throws in Dutilleux (as does the Juilliard Quartet) - and it offers the most intense, but never fussy or too extroverted, reading of this somewhat neglected work that I've heard. The Ébène's, who have been joyfully reckless and exciting in the recent live performances, show that they are as capable of very taut, detailed, extraordinarily defined and controlled playing, much to Fauré's benefit. Debussy and Ravel, with overtones of warmth and spunk, respectively, are wilder and also more munificent affairs, unafraid of exploring extremes.

The searing Andantino of the Debussy sets the mood for a luxuriant, opulent performance that becomes hugely interesting - rather than self-indulgent - because it can switch at any point into finely spun rhythmic phrases, forceful climaxes, and very subtle, delicate touches. This approach takes its time, and the Quatuor Ébène allows it that time. What makes it so successful is that there is never the impression of particularly slowness or of the music being pulled around gratuitously.

The Allegro moderato of the Ravel blooms at a true "moderato", it ebbs and flows with one large, generous pulse. And yet again, the emotional peaks are of grand intensity that benefit not only from the contrast with the surrounding reflecting, lingering, and stretched music, but also from quartet-playing that projects emotion with one voice. Assez vif - Très doux bubbles with colors in the pizzicato part. It's less a banjo-frenzy (as it can be, with very excited quartets) than it is a tone-poem with distinct aquatic, maritime qualities. Très lent is a very dark affair before the Quatuor Ébène finally unleash (ever detailed) Vif et agité like an electrical storm.

The only quibble I have with this release is the side-effect of an otherwise positive point: The recording is so ambient that the slightest foot-tapping is caught on record so vividly, that listening on speakers whose bass extends low enough to reproduce these subtle-yet-powerful thuds gives the impression that someone is running barefoot around the room upstairs.

This is one of those releases - among my favorites of 2008 - that one need not be ashamed or embarrassed for assigning superlatives to: It's one of the most exciting recordings of both the Debussy and the Ravel that I've ever heard, and one of the most beautiful, too. I'm not giving away my Quartetto Italiano (Philips) recording any time soon, but Virgin's ambience-rich all-French version might just be the best disc of these works issued in the forty-plus years since.

What a sensational disc! At a time when there is a multitude of crack new quartets, Quatuor Ebéne here stake their claim to join the top rank with riveting playing that encompasses an almost other-worldly sound-range. The Debussy especially left me reeling. With Ebéne, the Pavel Haas players, the Belceas, the Pacificas, Jerusalems and more, chamber fans are in good hands for the next few decades at least.

-- Gramophone [12/2008]

This disc won the 2009 Gramophone Record of the Year award, and deservedly so. The Ebene Quartet play with immaculate technical assurance, ardour and the appropriate Gallic flair. The sound is clear, natural and lifelike. The "product" is so good as to equal and on occasions better the classic Italian Quartet performances on Phillips. That disc only couples the Debussy and Ravel. The Ebene include the rarely recorded Faure quartet; a work previously unfamiliar to me. This was Faure's final composition; it is somewhat meandering in nature but repeated listening reveals it to be a composition of autumnal beauty and well worth investigating. Bravo!

The French string quartet Quatuor Ébène plays so very intimately and produce such a well integrated sound that it seems almost unnecessary to list the individual components of this quartet, but then again they are so fine that not knowing their names would seem incomplete. The members are Pierre Colombet and Gabriel Le Magadure, violins, Mathieu Herzog, viola, and Raphaël Merlin, cello. Their united performances on this extraordinary recital are the kind that if heard on the radio in the car make the drier pull over so as not to miss a nuance. This is an exceptional ensemble.

The recital opens with Claude Debussy's String Quartet in G-minor, op. 10 - airbourne and intoxicatingly played. The Debussy is followed by one of the finest performances of the Gabriel Fauré String Quartet in E-minor, op. 121 - completely enchanting in the facility these young men own as technique. The final work on the recital is Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F-major. There is something about the manner in which each of these masterworks is performed that places the listener in a near trance: the music itself is sensuous and seductive and the Quatuor Ébène offers all of the sensuality and fragrance of this music while at the same time continually amazing the listener with their facility. For this listener this is the finest recording of these three works as played together. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 11

After listening to the Chilingirian Quartet's version as my top choice for the past few years (just edging out the Quarteto Italiano and Auryn and Melos Quartet versions), I heard this CD in Berlin and immediately ordered it. It is absolutely fantastic. I had no idea one could top the competition but this is quite extraordinary. These players are so totally inside the idiom of these great french quartets and they play with such technical finesse and delicacy mixed with passion that it is an amzing feat. Buy this before it disappears.

The works on this very full recording (80 minutes) have been part of my listening experience for many years. This recording features the String Quartets of Debussy, Faure and Ravel played wonderfully by the Quatuor Ebene--a very young splendid French ensemble. Although I have heard these works many times before, I derived immense pleasure out of this recording by the Quatuor Ebene. To me, in all three works they capture the "French essence" so very well; they sublimely capture what I call the "French Bouquet" by playing with the most beautiful tone and intonation. To me, it's like eating a delicious Soufflé that melts into your mouth and evaporates into the "thin air". This Quartet is so very good, they give me great hope for the future of "Chamber Music".

Ravel, Debussy & Fauré interpreted with the strength and originality typical of the good young musicians.

This disc has garnered plenty of praise from critics and listeners, making reviews such as this one something of an irrelevant aside. However, it has made a great impression on me, so I can't help but give it a hearty recommendation. The accolades are really true - this group plays with a technical command, ensemble, maturity and spontaneity that belie their youth. After hearing these works played by Quatuor Ebene I really have very little desire to seek out alternative recordings. Of course, it can't hurt that their performances receive an absolutely gorgeous recorded sound - it is lush, juicy, detailed and with the perfect amount of room to allow a blending of the instruments.

As for the works themselves, the Debussy and Ravel quartets are unique in each composer's repertoire. Though each composer only wrote a single quartet, they are both treasures, filled with ideas, textures and harmonies never explored before. The Fauré is a late work, actually the most recent of the three. It has an unconventional three movement structure consisting of two relatively slow, reflective movements followed by a lively searching finale. I don't see how a quartet lover could go without any of these works.