Quatuor Sine Qua Non / Jean-Pierre Ferey CRAS Quatuor - Quintette

Rediscovered in the 1980s, Jean Cras (1879-1932) is now regarded as one of the best French composers of that time. After listening to Cras’s quartet, Maurice Ravel wrote to him: “You know how much I love your music…” It is likely that Cras’s career as a naval officer separated him from musical life in Paris and explains why his work was so recently rediscovered despite its quality and abundance. Chamber music is set solidly at the height of his work, particularly the string quartet and the quintet for strings and piano. Both works are rarely performed, perhaps because of their difficulty. Jean-Pierre Ferey is comtinuing his exploration of Jean Cras’s work with this release. After recording his album of Cras’s works for violin and piano with Marie-Annick Nicolas and Cras’s works for piano solo, the French pianist is now performing alongside the young quartet Sine Qua Non, here recording for the first time.