Fiction

"In everything we have been willing to do musically - during all that time spent practicing Haydn, Beethoven or Bartók - there has always been a concealed dream of improvising and creating a new approach to playing string quartet," confess the members of the multi-award-winning Quatuor Ébène. Fiction album brings that dream out into the open. The Ébène's first Virgin Classics CD, quartets by Debussy, Ravel and Fauré, was Gramophone's 2009 Record of the Year, also winning Germany's Echo Klassik Award 2009, Belgium's Prix Caecilia 2009 and a French Victoire de la Musique 2010, but this new collection, 'Fiction', sees them setting their special stamp on numbers from the pop and jazz repertoire.

“Quatuor Ebène seem the string quartet most likely to take on the mantle of the Kronos Quartet, not least for their ability to accommodate jazz and pop influences... Fiction is built on their tradition of encoring with dynamic chamber arrangements of such material... cellist Raphaél Merlin excels with his jazz bass virtuosity on "Nature Boy" and Wayne Shorter's "Footprints".” -The Independent

“These guys obviously swing and rock in their bones, with none of the embarrassingly trammelled, self-conscious posturing that often characterises the efforts of classically trained musicians to go native... The string playing itself is teeming with natural flair and intuitive understanding of jazz and popular idioms” -BBC Music Magazine

“Ebène possess that rare gift of drawing in the listener, from the moment the coruscating theme from Pulp Fiction scrapes across the speakers... eclecticism is never allowed to defuse the essential musicality of each performance. Indeed everything Ebène play is suffused with a "classical" sensibility, providing the recording with real substance and strength.” -Gramophone

“Many crossover attempts would have been best kept to the four walls of the musicians' own homes. That is not the case for Quatuor Ébène's Fiction... a triumph of originality and verve... Only a very few ensembles could pull off an album like this, so one can only hope that only a very few will try.” -BBC

Notes & Reviews:

Personnel: Pierre Colombet, Gabriel Le Magadure (violin); Mathieu Herzog (viola); Raphaël Merlin (cello); Richard Héry (drums).

Recording information: Curtis Schwartz Studios, Ardingly (04/16/2010); Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris (04/16/2010); Vulcania, Saint-Ours Les Roches (04/16/2010); Curtis Schwartz Studios, Ardingly (04/23/2010); Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris (04/23/2010); Vulcania, Saint-Ours Les Roches (04/23/2010); Curtis Schwartz Studios, Ardingly (11/20/2009); Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris (11/20/2009); Vulcania, Saint-Ours Les Roches (11/20/2009); Curtis Schwartz Studios, Ardingly (12/02/2009); Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris (12/02/2009); Vulcania, Saint-Ours Les Roches (12/02/2009); Curtis Schwartz Studios, Ardingly (12/05/2009-12/22/2009); Studio De La Grande Armée, Paris (12/05/2009-12/22/2009); Vulcania, Saint-Ours Les Roches (12/05/2009-12/22/2009).

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Works Details

Roubanis, Nicholas : Misirlou, song (for the film Pulp Fiction)

Performer: Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 3 min. 9 sec.

Fisher, Doris : Amado mio, song (for the film Gilda)

Performers: Luz Casal; Quatuor Ebène
Notes: This work was written in collaboration with Allan Roberts.
Running Time: 4 min. 28 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1946

Ahbez, Eden : Nature Boy

Performers: Richard Hery (Drums); Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 3 min. 33 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary

Lennon, John : Come Together

Performers: Richard Hery (Drums); Quatuor Ebène
Notes: This work was written in collaboration with Paul McCartney (1942 - ).
Running Time: 3 min. 5 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary

Mehldau, Brad : Unrequited, for piano

Performer: Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 6 min. 3 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary

Telson, Bob : Calling you

Performers: Richard Hery (Drums); Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 2 min. 33 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Jobim, Antonio Carlos : Corcovado, song

Performers: Quatuor Ebène; Stacey Kent
Running Time: 3 min. 23 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Grolnick, Don : Nothing Personal

Performers: Quatuor Ebène; Richard Hery (Drums)
Running Time: 6 min. 45 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary

Shorter, Wayne : Footprints

Performers: Quatuor Ebène; Richard Hery (Drums)
Running Time: 8 min. 45 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary

Shelton, James Alan : Lilac Wine

Performers: Fanny Ardant; Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 4 min. 44 sec.

Chaplin, Charlie : Smile (as used in the film "Modern Times" ) (spurious; by Geoffrey Persons)

Performers: Quatuor Ebène; Richard Hery (Drums)
Running Time: 5 min. 34 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: circa 1936

Churchill, Frank : Some Day My Prince Will Come (for Disney's Snow White)

Performers: Raphaël Merlin (Cello); Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 3 min. 49 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1937

Arlen, Harold : Somewhere Over the Rainbow (for the film The Wizard of Oz)

Performers: Natalie Dessay (Soprano); Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 6 min. 46 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1939

Holmes, David : Ocean's Twelve, film score :: 7-29-04 the Day Of

Performers: Mathieu Herzog (Viola); Richard Hery (Drums); Quatuor Ebène
Running Time: 4 min. 40 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary
Form: Film Score
Written: 2004

Springsteen, Bruce : Streets of Philadelphia, song (for the film Philadelphia)

Performers: Quatuor Ebène; Richard Hery (Drums)
Running Time: 5 min. 40 sec.
Period Time: Contemporary
Written: 1993

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