Charlotte Sohy: Chamber Music Quatuor Hermès, Mathilde Calderini, Constance Luzzati

• Charlotte Sohy (1887 - 1955): Premier Quatuor, Op. 25:
• 1 Sohy: Premier Quatuor, Op. 25: I. Allégresse 07:12
• 2 Sohy: Premier Quatuor, Op. 25: II. Sérénité 08:12
• 3 Sohy: Premier Quatuor, Op. 25: III. Badinage 05:27
• 4 Sohy: Premier Quatuor, Op. 25: IV. Volonté 05:48
• Deuxième Quatuor, Op. 33:
• 5 Sohy: Deuxième Quatuor, Op. 33: I. Allegro 05:19
• 6 Sohy: Deuxième Quatuor, Op. 33: II. Andante 06:36
• 7 Sohy: Deuxième Quatuor, Op. 33: III. Rondo 04:49
• Tryptique champêtre, Op. 21:
• 8 Sohy: Tryptique champêtre, Op. 21: I. Enchantement matinal 03:38
• 9 Sohy: Tryptique champêtre, Op. 21: II. Au fil de l'eau 05:20
• 10 Sohy: Tryptique champêtre, Op. 21: III. Danse au crépuscule 05:06
• Total Runtime 57:27

Info for Charlotte Sohy: Chamber Music

The second installment of the new label La Boîte à Pépites’s project of releasing the music of French composer Charlotte Sohy! It’s part of their ongoing goal of releasing a series of concept albums each devoted to a single woman composer. Last week you heard Sohy’s Piano Music, but this album features her three string quartets.

Charlotte Sohy was born in Paris in 1887 and was a friend and student of fellow composers Nadia Boulanger and Mel Bonis. These quartets reflect the more experimental sounds of the French music scene in the early 20th century.

Quatuor Hermès:
Mathilde Calderini, flute
Omer Bouchez, violin
Elise Liu, violin
Yung-Hsin Lou Chang, viola
Yan Levionnois, cello
Constance Luzzati, harp

The Quatuor Hermès
named after the famous messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, draws its musical force from its role as a go-between linking the composer’s text with the audience’s sensibility. The musicians have also established this identity through their travels around the world. Carnegie Hall in New York, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and Wigmore Hall in London are among the venues that have made the greatest impression on them. The quartet also performs at major international festivals.

The group’s original line-up came together in 2008 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon, where the four musicians studied with the members of the Quatuor Ravel. They went on to enrich their experience with such outstanding personalities as the Quatuor Ysaÿe, the Artemis Quartett, Eberhard Feltz, and later Alfred Brendel, an immense inspiration with whom they still work regularly today. Open to a wide range of repertory, they regularly share the concert platform with illustrious musicians, among them Yo-Yo Ma, Nicholas Angelich, Gregor Sigl, Pavel Kolesnikov, Kim Kashkashian, Anne Gastinel, and the Ébène and Auryn quartets.

The Quatuor Hermès has won numerous first prizes, notably at the Geneva Competition and the Young Concert Artists Auditions in New York. It receives the support of the Fondation Banque Populaire. After being quartet in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels from 2012 to 2016, it has been associate quartet with the Fondation Singer-Polignac in Paris since 2019.

Booklet for Charlotte Sohy: Chamber Music