Quatuor Ébène - Press Reviews

Album: Felix and Fanny

And of all the recordings that have been made of this work [Fanny’s Quartet], no ensemble conveys the joyous exhilaration and carefree abandon of the Finale as convincingly as the Quatour Ebène, whose lightness of touch and transparency of articulation are a delight to behold.

Erik Levi, BBC Music Magazine, 13 May 2019

They probe all three works with unflinching honesty and immediacy that don’t make for easy listening, but are unforgettable.

Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 7 February 2013

Album: Fiction

That there is also musical integrity in this crossover work is fascinating. From the off one gets the feeling that this project makes musical sense. The colours that are evoked in their version of Miles Davis’s All Blues are worthy of any of their work with Ravel and Debussy. The textures in the Pulp Fiction arrangement are kaleidoscopic.

Igor Toronyi-Lalic, The Times, 22 October 2010

A triumph of originality and verve.

Charlotte Gardner, BBC Online, 2 November 2010

Quatuor Ebène seem the string quartet most likely to take on the mantle of the Kronos Quartet, not least for their ability to accommodate jazz and pop influences.

Andy Gill, The Independent, 22 October 2010

Album: Brahms String Quartet No 1 and Piano Quintet

Akiko Yamamoto proves to be an ideal partner in the Piano Quintet, which achieves an extraordinary sense of drive and emotional abandon in the Finale.

Calum MacDonald, BBC Music Magazine, October 2009

Album: Ravel, Debussy and Fauré

They have such an extraordinary range of tone colour combined with a suppleness of rhythm which gives their playing a kind of serendipity as though they had just chanced on one achingly beautiful sound after another. The result is unforgettable.

BBC Radio 3 Building a Library, 28 March 2009

A virtuosic, highly intelligent performance

Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday, 12 October 2008

Three French masterpieces (Debussy, Fauré, Ravel) played by young musicians with a rare degree of expressive subtlety, blended sonorities and electrifying joy. The late Fauré quartet achieves a fine balance between sounding suave and pulsing with life. Debussy quivers with febrile emotions, while the Ravel soars to heaven with refinement and poise.

The Times, September 2008