Merlin - Octet / Passage Eclair [CD]

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, Marc Desmons, Victor Julien-Laferrière, Yann Dubost, Nicolas Baldeyrou, Julien Hardy and David Guerrier. 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 color 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...'