There is an entire life of composition between Saint-Saëns’s quintet and quartet — there are joys, sorrows, ideas and motifs, as well as the building...

There is an entire life of composition between Saint-Saëns’s quintet and quartet — there are joys, sorrows, ideas and motifs, as well as the building of a life and an aesthetic. The Girard Quartet (Quatuor Girard) — currently one of the most promising French ensembles accompanied by young pianist Guillaume Bellom — wanted to capture this outstandingly delicate material on the new album released by the B Records label. It was recorded in the calm and relaxed atmosphere of the Singer-Polignac Foundation. The Girard Quartet is comprised of siblings from one large family and came about from a shared passion awakened by family performances of chamber music from a very early age. The Girard Quartet was trained by the Ysaye Quartet at the Conservatoire Regional in Paris, and then by Miguel da Silva at Geneva’s Haute Ecole de Musique. They made a name for themselves at several important international competitions. In 2010, the Girard Quartet won the Prix Academie Maurice Ravel at the Saint-Jean-de-Luz festival. They were also prize winners at the Geneva International Music Competition in November 2011.