Schubert: Quintette imaginaire Sandrine Piau & Quatuor Psophos

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Der Jüngling und der Tod, D. 545 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 1 Schubert: Der Jüngling und der Tod, D. 545 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 03:55
• 4 Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister", D. 877:
• 2 Schubert: 4 Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister", D. 877: No. 4, Lied der Mignon [III]. Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 03:15
• Mignon, D. 321 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 3 Schubert: Mignon, D. 321 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 04:12
• 4 Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister", D. 877:
• 4 Schubert: 4 Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister", D. 877: No. 2, Lied der Mignon [I]. Heiss mich nicht reden, heiss mich schweigen (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 03:47
• 5 Schubert: 4 Gesänge aus "Wilhelm Meister", D. 877: No. 3, Lied der Mignon [II]. So lasst mich scheinen, bis ich werde (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 02:58
• Der Musensohn, Op. 92 No. 1, D. 764 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 6 Schubert: Der Musensohn, Op. 92 No. 1, D. 764 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 01:57
• Ganymed, Op. 19 No. 3, D. 544 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 7 Schubert: Ganymed, Op. 19 No. 3, D. 544 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 04:03
• Viola, Op. Posth. 123, D. 786 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 8 Schubert: Viola, Op. Posth. 123, D. 786 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 13:17
• String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, Op. Posth., D. 810 "Death and the Maiden": :
• 9 Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, Op. Posth., D. 810 "Death and the Maiden": II. Andante con moto 14:43
• Erlkönig, Op. 1, D. 328 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 10 Schubert: Erlkönig, Op. 1, D. 328 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 03:34
• Quartettsatz in C Minor, Op. Posth., D. 703:
• 11 Schubert: Quartettsatz in C Minor, Op. Posth., D. 703: I. Allegro Assai 08:59
• Wandrers Nachtlied, D. 768 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard):
• 12 Schubert: Wandrers Nachtlied, D. 768 (Arr. for Soprano and String Quartet by Jacques Gandard) 01:52
• Total Runtime 01:06:32

Info for Schubert: Quintette imaginaire

Sandrine Piau admits that she has always been fascinated not only by Schubert’s music but also by the genre of the string quartet. "The endless quest for the pure gesture in which we lose ourselves in order to become one with each other reminds me of the aquatic ballets in old-fashioned musicals, when female swimmers formed images of perfect flowers”. Thanks to the Psophos Quartet, her dream has now been realised; together they present a magnificent programme of transcriptions. "Between the hair of the bows and the texture of the voice, our instruments blend and form an imaginary Schubert quintet".

Sandrine Piau, soprano
Quatuor Psophos

Sandrine Piau
Recognized initially for her talents as a baroque vocalist, today Sandrine Piau is an established major figure on the international music scene, celebrated for her impressively wide stylistic range.

She regularly appears all over the world in concerts and recitals, guesting in New York (Carnegie Hall), London (Wigmore Hall), Hamburg, (the Elbphilarmonie), Zurich (Tonhalle) and Paris (the Philharmonie), and many other leading venues. Conductors she has worked with include William Christie, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Rousset, Gustav Leonhardt, Ivor Bolton, Ton Koopman, René Jacobs, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Raphaël Pichon, Julien Chauvin, Jérôme Correas, Giovanni Antonini, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Michel Corboz, Laurence Equilbey, Vladimir Jurowski, Alain Altinoglu, Michel Plasson, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding, Susanna Mälkki and Klaus Mäkelä.

Her many leading roles at the world’s major opera houses include Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) and Morgana (Alcina) at the Paris Opera; Dalinda (Ariodante) and Morgana at the Salzburg Festival; Alcina, Dalinda, and Ninette (The Love For Three Oranges) at the Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam; Alcina, Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande), Sandrina (La finta giardiniera), Sœur Constance (Dialogues des Carmélites), Cleopatra, and Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) at La Monnaie, Brussels; Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris; Despina (Così fan tutte) and Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) in Munich; Despina,Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and The Mother-in- law (Innocence, Kaija Saariaho, first performance) at the Festival of Aix-en-Provence, Rosi Pflaum (La Mélancolie de la résistance, Marc-André Dalbavie, first performance) in Berlin, and Despina at la Scala Milan.

Her impressive discography bears witness to her multi faceted artistry. Now recording exclusively for Alpha Classics, her recent albums Enchantresses (Les Paladins, Jérôme Correas), Rivales (with Véronique Gens, Julien Chauvin, and Le Concert de la Loge), Clair-Obscur and Reflet (Orchestre Victor Hugo, Jean-François Verdier), Évocation, Après un rêve and Chimère (with Susan Manoff), and Voyage intime (with David Kadouch) have all met with particularly warm critical acclaim.

Awarded the rank of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2006, Sandrine Piau was named Opera Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Classique awards in 2009.

Quatuor Psophos
Psophos ….. is the Greek word for breath, and refers to sound matter, noise in its original state, the origin of sound.

2020 marks a new beginning for the Psophos Quartet, with the arrival of Mathilde Borsarello Herrmann and the launch of a range of projects driven by a shared desire to share, transmit and give body and soul to music.

Founded in 1997 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon, the quartet went on to perfect its skills with the Quatuor Ysaÿe and to expand its knowledge under the aegis of Walter Levin in Basel. Master classes with the great Amadeus, Berg, LaSalle and Hagen quartets, as part of Proquartet, forged the Psophos’ passionate commitment.

The Quartet went on to win numerous international prizes, including Osaka, Florence and London, and was awarded 1st Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in 2001. It was also the first French quartet to be selected by the BBC’s prestigious New Generation Artist programme in London, and was nominated for a Victoires de la Musique award in 2005. They were then invited to perform in prestigious venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Les folles journées (Nantes, Tokyo, Lisbon, Warsaw), the Prom’s and many other festivals mark out his career and give him the opportunity to play with great musicians such as Bertrand Chamayou, Juliana Steinbach, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Nemanja Radulovic… his curiosity has led the Psophos Quartet to work with new artists, actors and directors. For three years, the Psophos Quartet was in residence at the Athénée Théâtre Louis Jouvet in Paris, where it produced its own series of chamber music concerts. It has also performed at the Théâtre National de Chaillot and the Opéra de Lyon, notably alongside choreographer and dancer Philippe Decouflé. In collaboration with Christophe Malavoy, they put on the show ‘Qui se souviendra’, which toured Paris and France for a year. The quartet has made numerous recordings, all of which have won critical acclaim.

A wonderful encounter with Jean-Marie Machado and Dave Liebman led them to jazz with ‘Painting notes in the air’, on which they recorded the album Media Luz. Recent recordings include the first quartets by Brahms and Dohnanyi, as well as ‘Chansons perpétuelles’, the fruit of a magnificent collaboration with the Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux. The variety of the Psophos Quartet’s discography is indicative of the desire of its members to be constantly nourished by different musical worlds and to be at the crossroads of their desires. Their latest album, ‘Constellations’, a tribute to French composers, is a showcase of enchanting sounds: Ravel, Debussy, Dutilleux. ‘The journey of these three islands of independence is exhilarating under the bows of the Psophos Quartet. Ravel’s hymn-like force reaches us in a performance of anthology, carried by the lightness and depth of a breath that never runs out. Debussy’s authoritative grandeur imposes itself with tact. As for Dutilleux, he benefits from a glow-worm activity that pushes the notion of play to the point of intoxication’. – Pierre Gervasoni for Le Monde

The Psophos Quartet attaches great importance to the influence that music can have if it is shared by all. After years of supporting the Rive association in the fight against AIDS by giving charity concerts in the Indian Ocean, the Psophos Quartet has also joined forces with the Paris Mozart Orchestra to play in suburban schools and prisons throughout the year.

In 2019, the Quartet has teamed up with Artie’s to travel to Cambodia to meet the children of the charity ‘Pour un sourire d’enfant’ and introduce them to classical music…

‘Because music is here, on earth, it exists beside us like a friend, and the fullness of its evidence gives us the courage to live, to write, to continue’. – Vladimir Jankélévitch

Booklet for Schubert: Quintette imaginaire