Au Suivant!

AU SUIVANT! Ravel . Fauré und Chansons für Klavierquartett “Our second album (En suivant! = Next!) highlights three different genres of French music: A youthful work by Fauré, written in the late romantic piano quartet tradition, character pieces by Ravel in a new arrangement for piano quartet and an eclectic mix of contemporary interpretations of French Chansons from Claude Le Jeune up to Georges Brassens. It all began with Fauré… his C minor Piano Quartet is one of the earliest works that we learned as an ensemble. We immediately formed a personal connection to the quartet, perhaps one of Fauré's most popular chamber music works. With its emotional core, instrumental colour, flowing but clear form, and the fascinating story behind its creation, we embraced the challenge of exploring our sound and furthering our comprehension of French musical literature. Some years later we received an unexpected gift: The first movement of Ravel's Ma Mère l´Oye arranged for piano quartet by our friend Shintaro Sakabe. “Try it,” he said, “I think it might work”. ……….. But the idea that brought everything together for this recording was Project Chanson………. (Excerpt from the Booklet Notes of the ensemble)