Catalogue # 6286680

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Described by the New York Times as a string quartet that can\neasily morph into a jazz band the Quartuor Ebne – Ensemble of the\nYear at the Midem Awards 2010 presents a programme of 16 pop and\njazz tracks, with guest appearances from a quartet of female stars:\nsoprano Natalie Dessay, jazz singer Stacey Kent, film icon Fanny\nArdant and Spanish pop star Luz Casal. The Ebnes first Virgin\nClassics CD, quartets by Debussy, Ravel and Faur, was Gramophones\n2009 Record of the Year, also winning Germanys Echo Klassik Award\n2009, Belgiums Prix Caecilia 2009 and a French Victoire de la\nMusique 2010, but this new collection, Fiction, sees them setting\ntheir special stamp on numbers from the pop and jazz repertoire.\nIts 16 tracks embrace figures as diverse as Charlie Chaplin, Bruce\nSpringsteen, Chick Corea, Harold Arlen, Wayne Shorter, Lennon &\nMcCartney, Brad Mehldau and, in the title track, Nicholas Roubanis,\ncomposer of the main theme to Quentin Tarantinos career-defining\nfilm, Pulp Fiction. Guest appearances are made by Virgin Classics\nresident diva Natalie Dessay, American jazz singer Stacey Kent,\niconic French actress Fanny Ardant (who proved a sexy chanteuse in\nthe 2002 movie Huit femmes), Spanish pop star Luz Casal and drummer\nRichard Hry. The quartets members even do some singing themselves,\nwith viola-player Mathieu Herzog taking the vocal lead in\nSpringsteens Streets of Philadelphia and all four performing a\ncappella in their rendition (en franais) of Someday my prince will\ncome, from Walt Disneys Snow White which has formed a surprise\nencore in such august venues as Londons Wigmore Hall. Pierre\nColombet, the quartets leader, explains that: As an ensemble we try\nto be as broad in our repertoire choices as possible. Genres like\npop and jazz are often overlooked by the classical world because\nclassical music is so intelligent, but when other musical genres\nare played really well they can also reveal treasures. This is why\nit is important for us to play jazz and other styles of music for a\nclassical audience because it introduces them to something new; and\nequally jazz and pop audiences can discover that classical\ninstruments are capable of different sounds. Our jazz-playing also\nhelps to inform our classical performance. It enables us to look at\nthe score from a different perspective and to see classical music\nas a kind of improvisation. We like to be as free as possible in\nour performance and for every concert to be slightly different.

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