Quartetto Noûs : Ravel & Fauré: String Quartets Review

by Steven Miller

There is a special feeling when a quartet listens as intently as Quartetto Noûs. Their new release, Ravel & Fauré: String Quartets, reflects these as they present two pillars of French chamber music. The eight pieces reveal them as a quartet that lets the music breathe through harmonic color, rhythmic interplay, and an ear for sonic balance.

Ravel’s 1903 String Quartet in F major is the youthful voice of a composer still in dialogue with Debussy and Fauré. Quartetto Noûs makes the music shimmer by leaning into the harmonic transparency of Ravel’s writing. The opening Allegro moderato floats, its themes brought to life, suspended over the modulating harmonic support. Rather than driving the phrases forward in a Germanic sense, they let Ravel’s harmonies bloom and decay organically. The second movement, with its pizzicati and rhythmic bite, comes alive with a clean snap and focus on the syncopation. The quartet’s coloristic inflection in the middle section is beautiful. When they reach the Très lent, the quartet resists over-romanticizing; instead, they bring out the suspended chords and modal inflections, letting the listener dwell in the pastel harmonies. By the finale, with its swirling 5/8 cross-currents and Spanish echoes, they push the rhythmic tension without losing tonal clarity. The “cyclic” recall of themes feels inevitable, the quartet paying close attention to accents and inner voice movement.

Fauré’s String Quartet in E minor, Op. 121, his final work, is another world with its pared-down, distilled architecture. Fauré wrote the work in his late 70s as a farewell. Quartetto Noûs approaches as a score of harmonic essence. The Allegro moderato molto tranquillo unfolds like a chorale in motion, the quartet voicing lines with the clarity of a four-part harmony colored by Fauré’s modal textures. In the Andante, often called the heart of the piece, they reveal its abundance of melodic ideas with patience, and the counterpoint is always vibrant.  The writing is carefully created, and Noûs captures its quality by emphasizing texture and purity of intonation. The final movement, with pizzicato articulations and sharper gestures, introduces contrast without shattering the atmosphere.

The bonus addition, Ravel’s Introduction & Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet, and string quartet, widens the harmonic spectrum. Joined by Andrea Manco (flute), Fabrizio Meloni (clarinet), and Luisa Prandina (harp), the ensemble achieves a timbral balance that makes Ravel’s orchestral imagination clear. The song’s placement between the two string quartet works is also very effective. The ensemble grows with each cadenza as the harmonic washes evolve. The cyclic construction of themes from the introduction reappearing and transformed resonates with the same principles of Ravel’s quartet, but in pastel hues.

What makes Quartetto Noûs successful here is their technical command that allows their harmonic sensitivity to the program. They voice chords, balancing resonance and silence. In Ravel, they let dissonance spark without overstatement; in Fauré, they honor the economy of means, sustaining tension with minimal material. The result is a program of performances that are modern and expressive as Quartetto Noûs creates the music’s harmonic storytelling. Quartetto Noûs demonstrates that French chamber music, far from being a footnote to Central European tradition, is lyrical, transparent, and daring in its subtlety.