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Review
The opening number is Misirlou, famous as the theme tune to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. It's played with the same youthful freedom that made the quartet's debut disc for Virgin Classics, of Ravel, Debussy and Fauré quartets, so exciting. Indeed, the ghost of Ravel puts in a surprise appearance in the opening textures and harmonic language, until shown the door by a fiery tango, which in turn soon smoulders into a sizzling rumba. The originality and variety flow thick and fast from here. Eden Ahbez's Nature Boy is an edgy jazz number, whilst Lennon and McCartney's Come Together is a highly rhythmic exploration of the different sounds and textures achievable by string quartet. Harmonics, pizzicato, glissandi and spiccato (playing with the wood of the bow) combine to extraordinary effect, capped off with a virtuosic violin solo improvisation.
The quartet also flexes their vocal chords with considerable musical charm. Viola-player Mathieu Herzog sings Streets of Philadelphia, and all four perform a French-translation, a cappella version of Someday My Prince Will Come from Walt Disney’s Snow White. Guest vocalists include jazz singer Stacey Kent and opera diva Natalie Dessay, whose pared-down Somewhere Over the Rainbow is so stylistically removed from her usual opera voice that she could easily pass as a jazz singer herself.
Fiction is a triumph of originality and verve. It must be said, though, that the thought of other quartets joining Quatuor Ébène in this approach is a rather more terrifying prospect. Only a very few ensembles could pull off an album like this, so one can only hope that only a very few will try.
CD Description
The Ebène's last CD, quartets by Debussy, Ravel and Fauré, was Gramophone's 2009 Record of the Year. This new collection, Fiction, sees them setting their special stamp on numbers from the pop and jazz repertoire.
The album's 16 tracks embrace figures as diverse as Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Springsteen, Chick Corea, Harold Arlen, Wayne Shorter, Lennon & McCartney, Brad Mehldau and, in the title track, Nicholas Roubanis, composer of the main theme to Quentin Tarantino's career-defining film, Pulp Fiction. Guest appearances are made by Natalie Dessay, American jazz singer Stacey Kent, iconic French actress Fanny Ardant (who proved a sexy chanteuse in the 2002 movie Huit femmes), Spanish pop star Luz Casal and drummer Richard Héry. The quartet's members even do some singing themselves, with viola-player Mathieu Herzog taking the vocal lead in Springsteen's ‘Streets of Philadelphia' and all four performing a cappella in their rendition (en français) of ‘Someday my prince will come," from Walt Disney's Snow White - which has formed a surprise encore in such august venues as London's Wigmore Hall.
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Customer Reviews
The works recorded here are adaptations of the music of Hollywood greats such as Charlie Chaplin, Bruce Springsteen, Chick Corea, Harold Arlen, Wayne Shorter, Lennon & McCartney, Brad Mehldau and Nicholas Roubanis. But the selection of songs doesn't explain the raison d'etre for this recording. The members of the quartet have invited guests to join in their interpretations of these songs. The violist Mathieu Herzog sings the 'The Streets of Philadelphia' (rather well, too!) with drummer Richard Héry adding the flavor of the movie original. Richard Héry joins the groups on almost every track on this CD making the quartet sound like a jazz ensemble rather than a like a classical string quartet. And there are more 'guests' who round out this fascinating concert. The brilliant French actress Fanny Ardant is the vocalist on 'Lilac Wine', Luz Casal brings her inimitable Spanish Pop sound to 'Amado Mío', 'Corcovado' is made particularly sensuous by American singer Stacey Kent, and even the highly regarded French opera star Natalie Dessay joins the quartet in a beautiful rendition of 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow.' All four of the quartet members open their version of 'Someday My Prince Will Come' (en francais, 'Un Jour Mon Prince Viendra') a cappella before moving into the instrumental aspect of that arrangement.
Some of the tracks the quartet stands alone while in most of them they are joined by the drummer Richard Héry creating a strange but fine ensemble. There will be some classical aficiondos who find this exploration outside their taste, and that is unfortunate. To find a string quartet with this degree of technical finesse, intelligence, charisma, and musicality - all wiling to try new territory - then perhaps this is a breakthrough for classical music. It does seem odd that while Los Angeles is celebrating the broad and important multi-discipline art survey, Pacific Standard Time, that this recital is not scheduled to be repeated. Instead Quatuor Ébène is offering two concerts that feature Mozart/Brahms/Borodin (with an encore from this album) and Martinu/Debussy/Schoenberg. Opportunities missed! Grady Harp, October 11
Awesome fusion of classical and modern music.
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