Omer Bouchez, violin
Elise Liu, violin
Manuel Vioque-Judde, viola
Yan Levionnois, cello
Slavic Song brings together three composers of different nationalities, three eras, and three distinct visions of the string quartet: those of the Austrian Joseph Haydn, the Czech Bedřich Smetana, and the Russian Sergei Prokofiev.
The Hermès Ensemble, whose name pays tribute to the messenger god, has been familiar with musical journeys since its founding at the CNSM of Lyon in 2008. Winner of First Prize at the Geneva International Music Competition in 2011, the four musicians have since explored many horizons, performing on major stages and collaborating with the label La Dolce Volta for their last six albums.
Beneath the starry vault of the Chapelle de Condat, the Hermès will perform Haydn’s quartet “How do you do?”, the fifth piece of Op. 33, nicknamed after its brief interrogative opening motif. The composer plays here with a language full of subtlety, delighting in surprising the listener—particularly through the then-new scherzo form.
The first of Prokofiev’s two quartets, written in the rare key of B minor, breaks with the conventions of the genre. Its Andante finale—intense and melancholic—gradually fades away, leaving us suspended over a void.
Smetana completes this Slavic program with his deeply autobiographical quartet “From My Life”, retracing his passionate youth devoted to art, his discovery of folk music, his first love, the power of national music, and ultimately the tragedy of his early deafness.
Programme :
Joseph Haydn, “Russian” String Quartet Op. 33 No. 5 “How do you do?”
Sergei Prokofiev, String Quartet No. 1, Op. 50
Bedřich Smetana, String Quartet No. 1 “From My Life”
