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QUATUOR HERMÈS 21
Ravel, Dutilleux, Debussy: three works dear to your hearts, which you
wanted to record in a specific venue, in Italy. But I gather the sessions
didn’t quite work out as expected . . .
In 2014, thanks to a concert in Mantua, we discovered the Teatro Bibiena, a
magnificent eighteenth-century theatre.We fell in love at first sight with this place
filled with memories (Mozart played there as a boy, shortly after its inauguration),
with its wonderful acoustics, and also with the city, where we have made friends
and which we return to every year. It offered the ideal conditions for making our
recording.Well . . . almost: it so happened that therewas a detour that weekwhich
meant that the only access road to Mantua was just behind the theatre. As soon
as the microphones had been set up, the sound engineer and recording producer
Jean-Marc Laisné announced his verdict: either we cancelled the whole thing, or
else we would have to work at night. We opted for the second solution, and spent
the next four days recording between eleven o’clock at night and four or five in the
morning – which is apparently a good time for the propagation of sound waves!
We wished our marvellous Mantuan hosts goodnight as we set out to record . . .
and they wished us the same thing at the breakfast table when we got back!
Because of those very special conditions, this is a recording we will never forget.
The atmosphere of this fabulous theatre, right at the heart of the sleeping city,
turned out to be inspirational. To realise our project in these conditions imposed
a tighter schedule than if we had worked during the day, and stimulated us to give
the best of ourselves.