|
Worcester
Telegram 2/4/05
Pittsburgh Tribune 2/11/03
Music REVIEW : Quartet’s quiet precision
rings with grace, beauty
By Eric E. Harrision
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Some performances you
remember because they were powerful enough to knock your socks off.
Tuesday night’s all-French performance by the Debussy Quartet —
Christopher Collette and Anne Menier, violins; Vincent Deprecq, viola; and
Yannici Callier, cello — at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock was
memorable for just the opposite reason : They played with such grace and
delicacy that practically each note was a precious gem.
The ensemble seems to specialize in pianissimos, with incredible
precision. Tuning, dynamics and balance all approached perfection. And if
a couple of passages were overdelicate where a little more gusto might
have been in order, that can be forgiven.
Delicacy and restraint were the watchwords in the single-movement Molto
adagio, sempre cantata dolorosoby Guillaume Lekeu, a mournful work that
reflected the composer’s early death.
The musicians’ strict attention to dynamic detail and balance continued
through the rarely heard String Quartet in E-flat major by Edouard Lalo,
right down to the sweetly played coda in the finale, which was nearly
marred by the inexplicable and inexpressibly rude arrival of a half-dozen
verylatecomers who couldn’t be bothered to wait an extra two minutes until
intermission to enter.
The evening’s showpiece was the String Quartet in F major by Maurice
Ravel, which featured some fine work from violist Deprecq, particularly in
the second and third movements. When the quartet finally got to cut loose
a little in the frenzied opening of the fourth movement, it was like a dam
bursting. Equally beautiful was the encore, the slow movement from the
namesake String Quartet by Claude Debussy.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 2/12/03
The Debussy String Quartet Returns for a
Spring 2003 U.S. Tour
The Debussy String Quartet's 2003 North American tour is now underway,
starting with concerts in Crockett, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri.
Comprising the dates of January 30 - February 21, 2003, the tour includes
return engagements in Missouri, Kentucky, Texas and in St. Petersburg,
Florida at the Museum of Fine Arts. On this tour, the quartet will also
make their first appearance at The Frick Art Museum in Pittsburgh. This
remarkable French ensemble will offer several exciting programs, including
an all French set of works of Lekeu, Franck and Ravel. Other programs
offer the Shostakovich 9th quartet, Stravinsky's Three Pieces and
Concertino, Janacek's 2nd Quartet, Haydn's opus 33 #2 and the Mozart
Quartet K. 428. Pianist James Dick is slated to join the quartet for
selected appearances of the Dvorak piano quintet.
The Debussy Quartet are renowned internationally for their beautiful
performances and fine recordings. They keep up a demanding performance and
teaching schedule while fulfilling their commitment to a ten year
recording contract on the Arion label. First heard in the United States at
Texas' famed Round Top Festival, their appearance on nationwide radio
(NPR's "Performance Today") showcased their Round Top performance of
Beethoven's Quartet # 11, opus 95 (the "Serioso"). The group made their
fourth U.S. tour in January-February of 2002, including appearances in Los
Angeles, Palm Springs, San Antonio, Round Top, Oklahoma City and at the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC among other communities. The
quartet's past U.S. tours have included engagements in New York (the 92nd
Street "Y"), Palm Beach, Washington DC, San Diego, St. Louis, Austin,
Houston, Detroit and many other communities from coast to coast.
In residence as chamber music faculty at the Conservatoire de Lyon, the
ensemble are founders of Academie de Musique de Chambre, a distinguished
summer chamber music festival. They record for the Arion label which is
currently releasing their complete Shostakovich Quartets and has recently
released works of late romantic French composer Ermend Bonnal as well.
Upcoming projects include both the Brahms and Weber clarinet quintets with
clarinetist Jean Francois Verdier, soloist of The Paris Opera.
The Debussy Quartet, violinists Christopher Collette and Anne Menier,
violist Vincent
Deprecq and cellist Yannick Callier, are winners of the Grand Prize at the
1993 Evian International String Quartet Competition and chosen as the
"Best Chamber Music Ensemble" 1996 Victoires de la Musique. Their recent
recordings have also been award winners, including the honor of the
coveted "Choc" award of Le Monde de la Musique for their Webern CD on
Harmonia Mundi. The Quartet has performed with many noted artists,
including such distinguished pianists as James Dick, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
and Noel Lee.
For Immediate Release, November 1, 1999
Arion Records Signs The Debussy Quartet, Academie de Musique Founded,
Conservatoire de Lyon Appointment Announced
The Debussy String Quartet have signed a 10-year recording contract with
the famed Arion label. To follow their award-winning Harmonia Mundi
releases, the Arion project will begin with the complete Shostakovich
Quartets and works of late romantic French composer Ermend Bonnal. The
first Shostakovich recording, including Quartets #4, op. 83, #8, op. 110
and # 13, op. 138, was released in the spring of 1999. In November 1999,
The Debussy Quartet will record quartets #3, #7 and #10 of Shostakovich,
to be released in September of 2000. In October 1999, they will record the
only quartets of Ermend Bonnal, #1 and #2, for expected release in April
of 2000. The remaining quartets in the Shostakovich cycle will be released
over 4 additional CDs in the coming months.
Following their successful U.S. concert tour in the spring of 1999 (Palm
Beach, FL, Washington, DC, Round Top and College Station, TX, among other
locales) The Debussy Quartet enjoyed the inaugural summer season of the
Academie de Musique de Chambre. This festival, founded by The Debussy
Quartet, is located in picturesque Bourg Saint Andeol, south of Lyon,
France. The Academy of Chamber Music is structured as a teaching festival,
and played host to 28 students up through aged 25, formed into seven
quartets. In addition to their own concerts in the historic Abbatiale
church in nearby Cruas, The Debussy String Quartet coached the student
quartets, and they in turn performed over a 10-day period in July.
The quartet's busy summer and fall continue with a long list of
performances for festivals in Briancon near Grennoble, Aubusson, Conques,
Hix en cerdagne, Touquet, Prague, St. Jean de Luz near Bordeaux, Amsterdam
(in the Concertgebouw), Toulon, Montbrison, Munich, Paris (in the Chatelet),
Saint Maur, Lyon, Charbonnieres, Rome, Valene and Privas. Their
fascinating programs include: a semi-staged concert of the "Shostakovich
Letters" with an actor/reader, which is the product of The Debussy
Quartet's collaboration with Teatre de Valence and Teatre de Privas; and
music of Bartok, Courtag and others, all eastern influenced, with four
dancers of Teatri del Vento, the Italian dance company. In May of 2000, at
the Peniche Opera in Paris, the quartet will give three concerts of
English and French music with tenor Christophe Crapez. Later that month
they will perform in Montbrison with a professional children's choir, two
contemporary works of Jean-Mari Morel and Jean-Pierre Sciau.
The Debussy Quartet will make their third trip to the United States for
concerts during February of 2000. The tour includes appearances in the
mid-west, south and mid-Atlantic states, and follows the success of their
1999 tour during which the group drew unified praise from audiences and
the press: "...a luminous performance...testimony to both the plausibility
of the ideas and the virtuosity of this group of young French musicians
who can project both abandon and control at the same time." The Washington
Post 1999. Engagements on the 2000 tour include appearances in New York at
the 92nd Street "Y", in San Diego at The Atheneum, in St. Louis at The
Ethical Society, as well as in many other communities such as Galveston
and Austin, Texas; Dearborn, Michigan; Fort Walton, Florida; the U.S.
Virgin Islands and more. Included on this tour are performances featuring
the group's ongoing collaborations with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in
New York and with pianist James Dick in Galveston and Round Top, Texas,
where the Round Top Festival audience first heard them in the summer of
1997. In each case, they will perform the Franck Piano Quintet with their
distinguished guest artist.
In addition to the Franck, program offerings on the tour include quartet
of Shostakovich (numbers 3, 4, 7, 8, 10), the Quartet #1 of Leos Janacek
(called the "Kreutzer Sonata"); the famed "American" Quartet, op. 96 of
Antonin Dvorak; Haydn's Quartet op. 76 #1; the Milhaud String Quartet #1;
the quartet of Claude Debussy, and the Beethoven Grosse Fugue.
Plans include a return visit to North America for concerts during the
2000/2001 season. Specific tour dates are: February 18 - March 16, 2001.
Based in France, The Debussy String Quartet has created an international
sensation unifying audiences as far apart as Washington DC, Paris,
Roumania and Germany. Through international touring and recording, this
young ensemble has already established a great following for their
exciting performances, illuminated by an exceptional sensitivity combined
with a deep understanding of the scores.
The Debussy Quartet was founded in 1990 by top drawer instrumentalists in
France who have since gone on to become highly acclaimed recording
artists. Their Brahms/Debussy CD on the Mecenat Musical label was awarded
the Victoire de la Musique in 1996 and their complete works of Webern (on
Harmonia Mundi) received the coveted "Choc" award of Le Monde de la
Musique. A champion of French music, the quartet has also released an
award winning CD titled "Musique Francaise" including works of Onslow,
Dancla and Rode (also on Mecenat Musical). In the United States, their
live recordings have been chosen by National Public Radio's "Performance
Today", who used their Beethoven Quartet, Opus 95 performance from the
Round Top Festival for it's nationally broadcast Beethoven Cycle.
The ensemble performs with distinguished artists such as pianists Noel
Lee, James Dick and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet; cellist Martin Lovett; harpists
Marielle Nordman and Frederique Cambreling; clarinetists Michele Lethiec
and Guy Dangain; flutist Philippe Bernold and guitarist Alexandre Lagoya,
among others.
Sponsored by Societe Generale, the quartet entered the 1993 Evian
Competition where members of the Emerson Quartet were included on the jury
that subsequently awarded The Debussy Quartet the First Grand Prize. They
were then heard all over Europe in concert and on live radio broadcasts.
Their regular appearances at the Orlando, Luberon and Montpellier
Festivals were followed by the honor of being selected as the "Best
Chamber Music Ensemble" of the 1996 Victoires de la Musique France.
Following this, the group made their first U.S. tour. In repertoire of
Haydn, Schubert, Debussy, Brahms, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Gilbert Amy,
Anton Webern and others, this superb ensemble has distinguished itself
among the best quartets performing today.
The Conservatoire de Lyon is pleased to announce they have engaged The
Debussy Quartet as chamber music faculty, beginning in September 1999.
For Further Information and Booking, Please Contact
Martha Woods, Jonathan Wentworth Associates, 301/277-8205 or
mjws@jwentworth.com
|
