Formed in 2005, Chiaroscuro Quartet comprises violinists Alina Ibragimova (Russia) and Pablo Hernán Benedí (Spain), the Swedish violist Emilie Hörnlund and cellist Claire Thirion from France. The Chiaroscuro Quartet has announced the appointment of French violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux to the ensemble. Saluste-Bridoux will perform alongside violinist Alina Ibragimova, violist Emilie Hörnlund, and cellist Claire Thirion, replacing Pablo Hernán Benedí, who has been a member of the quartet since 2010.
Dubbed ‘a trailblazer for the authentic performance of High Classical chamber music’ in Gramophone, this international ensemble performs music of the Classical and early Romantic periods on gut strings and with historical bows. The quartet’s unique sound – described in The Observer as ‘a shock to the ears of the best kind’ – is highly acclaimed by audiences and critics all over Europe.
Their growing discography includes recordings of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Haydn. Recent releases include Schubert ‘Death and the Maiden’ & String Quartet, D.173 and Haydn Op.76. Future releases include Beethoven Op.18 and Mozart ‘Prussian’ Quartets.
Chiaroscuro Quartet was a prize-winner of the German Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk/Musikfest Bremen in 2013 and received Germany’s most prestigious CD award, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 2015 for their recording of Mozart’s Quartet in D minor, K. 421 and Mendelssohn’s Second String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13. Among the ensemble’s chamber music partners are renowned artists such as Kristian Bezuidenhout, Trevor Pinnock, Jonathan Cohen, Cedric Tiberghien, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Chen Halevi, Malcolm Bilson, Christian Poltera and Christophe Coin.Recent engagements included their enthusiastically received debut concerts at Vienna Konzerthaus and Philharmonie Warsaw, their debut at Carnegie Hall as part of their first US tour and a return visit to Japan. Other highlights have taken the ensemble to the Edinburgh International Festival, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall and King’s Place, Auditorio Nacional de Música Madrid, The Sage Gateshead, Auditorium du Louvre Paris, Théâtre du Jeu-de-Paume in Aix-en-Provence, Grand Théâtre de Dijon, Gulbenkian Foundation Lisbon, Boulez Saal and Beethoven Haus Bonn. They have been artist-in-residence in Port-Royal-des-Champs since 2009, with a concert series dedicated to the string quartets of Mozart.
In the 22-23 season they continue their residency at Turner Sims Concert Hall, make return visits to London’s Wigmore Hall and Berlin’s Boulez Saal, as well as a return tour of North America including Jordan Hall, Boston; Princeton, San Francisco, Vancouver and Montreal’s Bourgie Hall.
Chiaroscuro Quartet are grateful to Jumpstart Jr Foundation for the kind loan of the 1570 Andrea Amati violin.
https://www.chiaroscuroquartet.com
Press Reviews
Recording: Beethoven String Quartets Vol 3
The wonderfully paced opening grows steadily in insistence, until it blossoms into melody in a totally unforced way, setting the tone for everything that follows; there seem to be no preconceptions in these performances, everything comes from the music itself.
It’s that combination of crisp, earthy clarity and lively, virtuoso sparkle that marks these readings out – in drink terms, think tannin-rich reds against fine, biscuity champagne – along with the conversational vitality as the four of them move fluidly in and out of the spotlight, and between colours and moods, all with such an adrenalin-filled, spontaneous-feeling rhythmic impetus and swing that at times it’s a challenge to sit still as you listen.
Gramophone 01 June 2023 Concert, Boston Early Music Festival Jordan Hall, Boston
Mar 2023
Contrasts played a major role for sure: tense and strained sound in the tempestuous Allegro of opus 13 — and other pieces as well — sounded miles away from the lush cantabile in the Adagio and the starry-eyed purity of the Intermezzo. Opposites generously enriched the narrative. This glorious music could have been played with a consistent juicy vibrato throughout and might have left some audiences content and well nourished. But having once experienced the Chiaroscuro’s drama, I would be loath to settle for usual relentlessly beautiful tones of mainstream groups.
Invigorating energy and attention to articulation and phrasing that’s constantly rewarding and sometime a soaring lyricism that reminds us we are never that far from Mozart’s operas…nothing is taken for granted, everything explored as though for the first time.
Recording of the Week, BBC Radio 3 Record Review 12 November 2022
What makes this release so impressive is how the Chiaroscuro Quartet’s playing operates beyond any feeling of tendentiousness in this area. They use gut strings (naturally), and deploy non vibrato as something close to a default position (naturally). Meanwhile their underlying musicianship is so superb that you find yourself absorbed in the mesmerising mastery of these works without any issues of style getting in the way
BBC Music Magazine 24 January 2023 Recording: Beethoven Op.18 Vol 1
Their spirited playing, the well-balanced quartet sound, and then that baffling ending after all the turmoil – a mere wisp – makes the listener never want to hear it any other way. …the Chiaroscuro produces a sound of ravishing sonic and intonational purity…experiencing these remarkable performances is akin to hearing this groundbreaking music for the very first time.
This is a thrilling recording, that inspires the listener with its earthy power. 22 March 2022 Recording: Schubert Op.14 and Op.9
…with their ‘period’ sound world allied to hungry tempos and phrasing that vaults across the bar line, Schubert’s darkest quartet seems more than ever a study in the inexorable power of rhythm. It is also, properly, a drama of uncomfortable extremes. In their dangerous night-ride of a finale, straining at the edge of the possible, the Chiaroscuro do not eschew harshness. Here and elsewhere their unvarnished sonorities (vibrato minimal or non-existent) make Schubert’s harmonic clashes all the more excruciating.
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- After the coda’s truly frantic più mosso, the Chiaroscuro, with their bleak, blanched pianissimo, suggest traumatised exhaustion: Schubert staring into the void
- Gramophone Magazine 01 January 2018
- This is a simply stunning performance, as remarkable for its expressive power as it is for its textural clarity. As well as mastery of period niceties (vibrato is restrained but by no means absent, and deployed with immense thoughtfulness), the group is obviously completely attuned to the Schubertian idiom – that elusive but unmistakable combination of Biedermeier charm, bittersweet Schubertian lyricism, and the visceral emotional engagement of early Romanticism that no other composer comes close to…This is playing of real distinction, combining stylishness and thrilling musicianship in measures rarely encountered.Europadisc 04 November 2018
- This is a dramatic and unsettling performance, its beguiling beauties furiously dispelled. The Strad 03 December 2018. Fierce dynamics, powerful attack and articulation and superb ensemble in some extreme dramatic reaction to Schubert’s writing… Uncompromising and thrilling in the way they engage in Schubert’s emotional extremes… Not a comfortable ride, and neither should it be. BBC Radio 3 Record Review; Disc of the Week 17 November 2018
