Brahms: 3 Quartets for Piano and Strings Geoffroy Couteau & Quatuor Hermès

• Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897): Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26:
• 1Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26: I. Allegro non troppo15:59
• 2Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26: II. Poco adagio11:22
• 3Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26: III. Scherzo11:09
• 4Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 in A Major, Op. 26: IV. Allegro alla breve10:36
• Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25:
• 5Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: I. Allegro13:19
• 6Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: II. Intermezzo08:00
• 7Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: III. Andante con moto10:08
• 8Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25: IV. Rondo alla zingarese08:21
• Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60:
• 9Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60: I. Allegro non troppo10:31
• 10Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60: II. Scherzo04:18
• 11Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60: III. Andante08:21
• 12Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60: IV. Allegro comodo10:28
• Total Runtime02:02:32

Info for Brahms: 3 Quartets for Piano and Strings

Few music lovers are aware of the importance and originality of Brahms’s three piano quartets, yet the composer completely reinvented the genre. These works contain some of his most profound inspirations, demonstrating both the orchestral power of his scoring and his interiority. They probably provided fertile ground for his ‘symphonic’ imagination, judging by the uncommon force and creative power with which it is expressed throughout these three scores. The members of the Quatuor Hermès and Geoffroy Couteau have completely grasped the nature of this music, and serve it with the requisite authority and tenderness in an outstandingly committed interpretation.

Geoffroy Couteau, piano
Quatuor Hermès

Quatuor Hermès
The flourishing career of the Quatuor Hermès takes its members on tours worldwide. The quartet is a regular guest in the United States, where it performs at prestigious halls including the Kennedy Center inWashington and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in NewYork. ​

Its trajectory has been punctuated by a number of decisive encounters, notably with the Ravel, Ysaÿe and Artemis quartets, with whom the four musicians trained and developed a shared musical philosophy, and with such outstanding personalities as Eberhard Feltz in Berlin, and later Alfred Brendel, an immense inspiration with whom they now work regularly.

The Quatuor Hermès has received numerous prestigious awards, among them ‘Révélation Musicale de l‘Année’ at the Prix de la Critique 2014-15 and the Nordmetall Ensemble Preis 2013 at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. It also won the First Prizes of the Geneva International Competition 2011, the FNAPEC Competition 2010, the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition 2009, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. ​

The four musicians were Artists in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel from 2012 to 2016. Since 2015 they have received support from the Fondation d’Entreprise Banque Populaire and the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris. ​

Elise Liu plays a violin by David Tecchler on loan from the Fonds Instrumental Français. ​

Since August 2016, Omer Bouchez has played a violin by Joseph Gagliano (1796), on loan fromMécénat Musical Société Générale.

Geoffroy Couteau
is a profound and sincere artist. He has been acclaimed repeatedly for his dense, rich playing, his wholeheartedness, and his risk-taking. For him, performance is the fulfillment of musical work, the fruition of a rich and complex process. It is assuredly the reason for this unique mode of expression and this unusual presence.

He was awarded first prize in the International Johannes Brahms competition in 2005. His first recording, of Brahms’s final works, earned him a number of honors: “ffff” from Telerama, 4 stars from Le Monde de la Musique, 5 tuning forks, etc. Since its release, he has been playing in prestigious venues such as the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, The National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay, the Maison de la Radio, the Théâtre de l’Athénée, the Théâtre Mogador, the Salle Gaveau, The Amphitheater at the Bastille Opera House, etc.

He was guest soloist with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra in Thailand for Chopin’s First Concerto, and he has been invited to play in various festivals such as the “Piano aux Jacobins” Festival in Toulouse, the Chopin Festival in Bagatelle, the Chopin Festival in Nohant, the Lilles Piano Festival, the New Soloist Festival at the Serres d’Auteuil, the Epau Festival, the “French May” in Hong-Kong, etc. He is a frequent guest on several radio programs on France Musique, and on television programs like Mezzo and Direct 8.

He was unanimously accepted to begin a course of studies at the Higher National Music Conservatory in Paris in the class of Michel Béroff, Denis Pascal, and Eric Le Sage. In 2002, he received the conservatory’s diploma of advanced formation with highest honors, fist in his class by a unanimous vote, and with the special Daniel Magne award. That same year he began the advanced proficiency course in piano under the direction of Michel Béroff, Marie-Françoise Bucquet, and Nicholas Angelich.

He also studied chamber music with Jean Mouillère and Christian Ivaldi, and was awarded highest honors. He has participated in a number of master classes from renowned musicians such as Dmitri Bashkirov, Christoph Eschenbach, and Leon Fleisher. He has, moreover, been awarded grants from the Cziffra Foundation, the Concertante Foundation, the Mécénat Musical Société Générale, the Série Déclic–Culture France, and the Nadia et Lili Boulanger Foundation.

Booklet for Brahms: 3 Quartets for Piano and Strings