Press review

“A superb recording…A virtuosic, highly intelligent performance.” - Independent on Sunday, October 2008

“Beautifully crafted performances….intense concentration and flair [in Fauré]..elation and rhythmic zest [in Debussy].” - Sunday Telegraph (*****), October 2008

“Here is a gifted young string quartet with something urgent and individual to communicate. This is playing that combines refinement of shading and nuance with a sense of controlled danger.” - Daily Telegraph, October 2008

 “…a widely acclaimed, award-winning group of young players whose dynamism and open-minded versatility is helping transform French classical music. This set encompassing the principal string quartets of early-20th-century French music demonstrates something of the breadth and intensity of their abilities, not least in the different emphases they place on the passages, disruptively blending bowed and pizzicato notes which characterise the second movements of Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor and Ravel's String Quartet in F Major. Ravel modelled his piece as a homage to the earlier composition, and it's in the striking dynamic range which, despite its restricted pace, the Quatuor Ebène bring to the très lent third movement that best demonstrates their elegant command of the material. In Fauré's String Quartet in E Minor, they brilliantly negotiate the contrast between the melancholy cast of the first two movements and the more contented, even animated tone of the final movement, by allowing the lingering impressions of the second movement's see-sawing undulations to haunt the rest of the piece.” - Independent on Sunday, October 08
 

 “Three masterpieces played by young musicians with a rare degree of expressive subtlety, blended sonorities and electrifying joy. The late Fauré quartet achieves a fine balance between sounding suave and pulsing with life. Debssy quivers with febrile emotions while Ravel soars to heaven with refinement and poise.” - The Times (*****), London, September 2008

 “I never heard a more beautiful live interpretation of Schubert’s Quintet, even by the most prestigious ensembles…. This quartet is really worldclass..a amazing miracle!” - Joachim Kaiser, Süddeutsche Zeitung, july 2007 

“They live and breathe [Bartok’s] pulsating textures with a sensuality that tantalising appears to lie halfway between Ravelian allure and Bergian neurosis.” - Julian Haylock, The Strad (Strad Selection June 2007)

“They’re playing like a fifth person” - Ensemble (Germany), June 07

“The members of the Ebène Quartet win their spurs with this superlative disc. Their performances demonstrate a natural affinity with [the three Haydn quartets]… and their bold and decisive characterisation confirms them as interpreters of rare understanding and communicative flair.”  - Robin Stowell, The Strad. Aug 2006



                                                                              

"The young French musicians show wonderful capacities…and their Haydn CD is first-rate.  Future holds great things for the Ebène.” - Diapason, May 2006 (Review of Haydn CD- 5 Diapasons)