Montreal-based Quatuor Cobalt (Cobalt Quartet), founded in 2017, has been quietly carving out a name for itself in its native Québec, combining a love of early music with a commitment to showcasing contemporary creations. The quartet of young musicians – they met as students at the Université de Montréal – has recently released their debut album Reflets du Temps, recorded for the independent label GFN Productions.
This impeccably curated album, showcasing works by female composers, is well worth the listen, whether to hear a talented young quartet doing interesting and exciting things, or to check out some wonderful music by women composers too-often ignored by the classical canon.
Reflets du Temps (roughly, “Reflections of Time”) is a celebration of three female composers, starting with the well-known – Fanny Mendelssohn – through the largely forgotten – Maddalena Laura Sirmen, a popular violinist/soprano(!)/composer in 18th century Italy – and one modern composer, the Argentine-Armenian conductor/composer Alicia Terzian.
Of the three pieces (and composers) on display, the Mendelssohn is, unsurprisingly, the clear standout. Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in E-Flat major, H.277 (1834) is a fine example of the “other Mendelssohn’s” Early Romantic stylings. From its lyrical opening movement, through the exciting Allegretto – for which the Quartet has even put out a charming music video – and on to a beautiful Romanze and rousing Allegro molto vivace, it’s a lovely piece, performed with exuberance by the Quartet on period instruments. And did I detect a hint of one or two borrowed Beethoven motifs in there?
Odds are most concert-goers have not heard of Italian polymath Maddalena Laura Sirmen. Born in Venice, where she spent the bulk of her life, Laura Sirmen trained as a violinist under the tutelage of prolific Baroque composer Giuseppe Tartini, before expanding her musical horizons to encompass the vocal repertoire. One of the first successful female classical musicians, her little known String Quartet No. 2 in B-Flat major, Op. 3 (1771) is actually the piece which Cobalt chooses to open the album. Though only two movements (presumably, it is unfinished), it is a fine example of Classical composition (for reference, it premiered the same year as Haydn’s “Mercury” Symphony), largely reflecting back the schemes of the day rather than inventing anything particularly new. It is, at least, a very pretty quartet which stands to be heard more often, probably as a concert opener similar to its placement here.
Finally, there’s Alicia Terzian’s Tres Piezas for String Quartet, Op. 5 (1955). A modern classical skeptic myself, I was pleasantly surprised by the tuneful nature of this eerie, Latin-inflected work. At times sounding almost like a tango (you can practically hear the bandoneon), the Tres Piezas are three short compositions carrying evocative labels: the “Sunset Song” of the first piece, followed by the “Pastoral with Variations” and finally the “Rustic Dance”. Like a lot of modern composition, and especially modern composition of the 1950s, it plays around with harmonics and pizzicato to amusing effect.
The Quator Cobalt – violinists Guillaume Villeneuve and Diane Bayard, violist Clément Bufferne, and cellist François Leclerc – were wise to choose this relatively niche theme for their debut album. Capturing attention in the dwindling classical landscape is already hard enough; by showcasing overlooked female composers, the Quartet simultaneously makes their own case (you should go listen to this up-and-coming quartet) while also shining a generous spotlight on the great female composers.
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Quator Cobalt’s debut album Reflets du Temps is available for purchase here.
Tour / Concert Schedule online here.
