The French composer Gounod wrote not only operas but also string quartets? If it was universally accepted in Mozart's time and in accordance with the fact that a composer had to be a jack-of-all-trades simply serving every genre of classical music with his compositions, later in the nineteenth century it was rather the rule that composers should specialize to one genre or at most two genres, only as for instance Giuseppe Verdi, famous for his operas, or Johannes Brahms, who is known mainly for his symphonic and piano music. Gounod, also a child of the nineteenth century, was one of the few exceptions that covered with compositions all musical genres, from piano works to string quartets, oratorios, cantatas and masses and operas. Today, however, he is primarily known and estimated for his Faust opera (commonly known as Margarete). Less known is the rest of his works and it is not known that he made the most money with church music, a music that was forgotten shortly after his death because of its somewhat sweetish notation. The same fate befell his five string quartets for a similar reason, none of which except one could hold in the repertoire.

It is thanks to the Quatuor Cambini, based in Paris, that just in time for Gounod's two hundredth birthday, all of the string quartets just have been released on record and as downloads for the first time. The fact that this could come about is due not only to the Quatuor Cambini, which in addition to the classical repertoire (all Haydn 's string quartet will be on their schedule in the coming years) revives rarely or no longer performed works, but also due to sponsor who is interested in the rediscovery of the Gounod chamber music interested sponsor, and who made the recording project financially possible.

The Quatuor Cambini, that is Julien Chauvin and Karine Crocquenoy, violin, Pierre-Eric Nimylowycz viola and Atsushi Sakai cello. The four string players are specialists for the historically informed kind of playing using historical string instruments, and as a quartet formation they are among the handful of specialists who have dedicated themselves to the historic performance of hair and hair. In this capacity, they are all also active in larger chamber music formations.

Why listen to Gounod's string quartets as a listener when, for example, the quartet world of Ludwig van Beethoven is available in numerous masterful interpretations? Quite simply because the musical world continued to rotate even after having climbed the quartet Everest and at the end of the nineteenth century Gounod's quartets were created as a worthy legacy of the Viennese classicism tradition. The lyrical accents of the Quartet in G minor or the airy lightness of the quartets’ scherzo movements could have come from Mendelssohn or Schubert. Another important reason to deal with these quartets is the Quatuor Cambini, which sets in its rightful light the inevitable co-composing of sweetness of the opera composer Gounod in its rightful light with his historicist playing style and does not let the sweetness take over leadership. The Quatuor Cambini is truly a remarkable ensemble among the numerous newly formed quartets in recent years, which provides enormous enthusiasm and stands out from its peers with its own clear, seemingly light sound.

Quatuor Cambini-Paris