Quatuor Ebène

Beethoven: String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18/5
Brahms: String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51/1
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135

Quatuor Ebène: Pierre Colombet, Gabriel Le Magadure (violin); Adrien Boisseau (viola); Raphaël Merlin (cello)

Members of the French Quatuor Ebène took lessons from Gábor Takács-Nagy, Eberhald Fletz and György Kurtág before they went on to win the ARD Competition in 2004. Proof of their success came in 2009 when the BBC Music Magazine voted them ‘Newcomer of the Year’, and Gramophone rated their album of string quartets by French composers ‘Recording of the Year’. They are at home in many different styles, classical, contemporary or even jazz, although they have gone for a traditional programme for this Liszt Academy appearance. A film shot in 2017 shows how many arguments and rehearsals, how much practice and passion go into each and every extraordinarily successful concert. The film, simply titled ‘4’, also crystallizes the musical creed of the four men, although not long after the premiere it became clear that the apparently legendary unity of the ensemble was divisible after all; for this concert, string quartets by Beethoven and Brahms are played together with Marie Chilemme, violist, in the final performance of the Four by Four season ticket series.