Beethoven's string quartets cross cultural divides as Quatuor Ébène performs them around the world.
Quatuor Ébène Photo: Julien Mignot
World-renowned French quartet Quatuor Ébène is currently on tour with Chamber Music New Zealand. Two of the players came into the studio to discuss how they make it work and what it’s like being asked to play Beethoven at Carnegie Hall.
Gabriel and Raphaël joined David Morris to discuss Beethoven’s insights, life on the road, and wine.
Music, the quartet says, can cross countries and cultural divides. That’s the ethos behind the global tour they are currently on which encompasses some 40 performances across 18 countries in six continents.
Quatuor Ébène is performing and recording all of Beethoven’s string quartets. The group was asked to perform the quartets at Carnegie Hall and decided to take the musical pieces around the world.
Second violinist Gabriel Le Magadure and cellist Raphael Merlin say Beethoven tried to make his music universal, and they are set out to see if that is true.
While on their global tour, a documentary crew will follow the quartet, capturing each culture’s response to Beethoven.
Quatuor Ébène will record a 7-CD set of the quartets during the tour, and these will be live recordings from their concerts. The complete set and the documentary film will be released in 2020.
The quartet performs tonight (Friday) in Wellington at the Michael Fowler Centre and tomorrow (Saturday) at the Auckland Town Hall.
