Schubert: Octet / Merlin: Passage éclair Fouchenneret, Okada, Desmons, Levionnois, Dubost, Baldeyrou, Hardy, Guerrier

• Raphaël Merlin: (b. 1982):
• 1 Passage éclair 12:38
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166:
• 2 Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: I. Adagio – Allegro – Più allegro 14:54
• 3 Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: II. Adagio 11:05
• 4 Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace 05:50
• 5 Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: IV. Andante - Un poco più mosso – Più lento 10:25
• 6 Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: V. Menuetto: Allegretto 06:40
• 7 Octet in F Major D.803, Op. 166: VI. Andante molto – Allegro – Andante molto – Allegro molto 09:14
• Total Runtime 01:10:46

Info for Schubert: Octet / Merlin: Passage éclair

Created in 2013 at the instigation of the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, La Belle Saison brings together several prestigious concert venues in a network hosting chamber music concerts. It also produces recordings. This programme – initiated by a group of friends and chamber musicians – was able to mature in the course of one of these residencies. Inspired by the unprecedented scoring of Beethoven’s Septet op.20, Schubert’s Octet D803 is an immense work of symphonic proportions. It was written just one year before the Ninth Symphony, known as the ‘Great C major’, composed in 1825, the last major orchestral work Schubert completed.

This programme highlights the performers and composers championed by La Belle Saison, and is derived from residencies and concerts, ‘precious means to enable us to experience and bring to life such monumental works as Schubert’s Octet’, says the violinist Pierre Fouchenneret, heard here alongside his prestigious partners Shuichi Okada (violin), Marc Desmons (viola), Victor Julien- Laferrière (cello), Yann Dubost (double bass), Nicolas Baldeyrou (clarinet), Julien Hardy (bassoon) and David Guerrier (horn). They also present a new work by the composer, conductor and ex-cellist of the Quatuor Ébène Raphaël Merlin: ‘We were inspired by the asymmetry of Schubert’s Octet, in which three wind instruments are set against five stringed instruments; this is in keeping with the laws of acoustics and dynamics, but gives a relatively dark colour to the ensemble. The numbers 3, 5 and 8 evoke the Fibonacci sequence, which, like the golden section, underpins a very large number of works of the past and today. We enter into musical time in reference to the timespan of human life on earth and the acceleration of history...’

Pierre Fouchenneret, violin
Shuichi Okada, violin
Marc Desmons, violin
Yan Levionnois, violin
Yann Dubost, violin
Nicolas Baldeyrou, violin

Pierre Fourchenneret
one of the associated artists of the Foundation Singer Polignac, has enjoyed a strong recognition right back to his tender years. Thus as soon as his twelfth year he was granted the first prize for violin at the CNR - National Regional Conservatory - in Nice; then at sixteen the first prize for violin and chamber music at the CNSM - National Superior Conservatory of Music - in Paris; and he was a prize winner for Nataxis, and for the Grand Prize of the International Competition of chamber music in Bordeaux.Enriched by the exceptional teachings he benefited from Alain Babouchian at the CNR in Nice, Olivier Chartier at the CNSM in Paris and Devy Erlih, Pierre Fourchenneret has wished to transmit as well and has become a teacher in the Superior Pole of Bordeaux.

This recognition also gives him the pleasure to collaborate with the most gifted musicians of his generation and to give performances on the greatest national and international stages. This is how in 2013 he founds the quartet Strada with François Salque, Sarah Nemtanu and Lise Berthaud.

His virtuosity, "his intense, precise and colourful playing" (Classica) and his buoyancy are appreciated by French and international orchestras as the ones in Bordeaux Aquitaine, Dijon, the philharmonic in Nice, Brno, the Baltic in St Petersburg. With a passion for chamber music, he is also the violinist of the string trio 71 together with Eric Picard and Nicolas Bone.

In the course of his career as a soloist and as a chamber musician, his first record devoted to Mendelssohn trios comes out in 2007. It will be followed by a series of records, all of them unanimously praised by the critics. Thus he is awarded the Choc Classica for a record devoted to the French composer George Louis Onslow. In 2015 he publishes no less than three opus; the first one is dedicated to the quartet with piano no. 3 opus 3 by Mendelssohn; in the second one "Bohème", he interprets the Bach Chaconne, the Kodaly Duo with François Salque and the second Bartok sonata for violin and piano with Romain Descharmes. Finally for the third one, again with Romain Descharmes he records Beethoven's complete sonatas for violin and piano. Driven by his absolute passion for this composer, he deepens his work and at the beginning of this year 2016 he releases a record of his last two quartets. The year 2016 will be marked by numerous projects among which a record featuring the complete music for violin of Fauré. In 2017 he will start a cycle of the complete Brahms chamber music alongside Eric Lesage.

The work done by Pierre Fourchenneret which we can discover in particular with his different recordings, reflects his perpetual search for an aesthetic that is pure and free of affect, but also his deep love and respect of the text.

Wonderful on stage, Pierre Fourchenneret can also take risks and surprise his audience: "It was so revealing to listen to the quality of the silence of the public absolutely seized […] Overwhelming is the word that was on the music lovers' lips, in a state of shock"; "a large public had come and was conscious of their privilege in attending a rare concert" (Ouest France).

Booklet for Schubert: Octet / Merlin: Passage éclair