Chants Nostalgiques: a masterclass in collaboration

When duo Marie-Laure Garnier and Célia Oneto Bensaid teamed up with the Hanson Quartet for a joint project, fusing the two ensembles could have presented a challenge. Instead, they created Chants Nostalgiques, an album inspired by the theme of nostalgic love which is available this month through B•Records. Here the duo and quartet talk through the process of creating not only an album, but a strong collaborative force.

Hanson Quartet: At first, we all started to discuss the possibility of having a live recording of French songs. The great classics of this formation such as Fauré’s ‘La bonne chanson’, and Chausson’s ‘La chanson Perpétuelle’ seemed really enjoyable and a must-do. Then, Marie-Laure and Celia brought the idea of mixing those pieces with the wonderful arrangement of Chausson’s ‘Le poème de l’amour et de la mer' and Sony’s delightful and unknown ‘Chants nostalgiques’. At that point, we felt that this project could be the perfect way to express French romanticism in all its forms. To seal this, we all perfectly matched in a great friendship as soon as the rehearsals started.

Bensaid: To prepare for this project, we were all serious and involved in our rehearsals before the recording residency. This allowed us to feel comfortable musically very quickly and therefore to be relaxed and confident. We spent time together outside the rehearsal rooms, this was important, as it allowed us to get to know each other better, and in a different way. This complicity is a great gift; when it corresponds humanly, it is felt in the musical connivance. Then we exchanged on what the poems resonated with us, which allowed us to serve these melodies with intimacy and authenticity.

Garnier (pictured below): The starting point of this project is Chausson’s ‘Le poeme de l’amour et de la mer’. It’s a work that moves me and that I have always wanted to record, and for that, I surrounded myself with wonderful musicians, who were very sensitive and attentive to the text. I was really happy that the B•Records team accepted to produce this record as a live recording is a very interesting experience that I enjoy greatly. The energy of the concert, the presence of the audience brings an additional touch.

Marie Laure Garnier @Cédric Martinelli

B•Records founder and artistic director, Baptiste Chouquet: This live recording was the culmination of a week-long residency full of musical explorations conducive to exchanges between the quartet and the duo. It allowed the artists to immerse themselves in a perfect climate to transcend the interpretation and transmit a strong and singular emotion. The spectators, music lovers of melodies and chamber music, created by their listening the conditions of a unique performance, unattainable in studio. During the recording process the microphones are forgotten, making the repertoire feel current and alive. 

Hanson Quartet: One of the interesting aspects of the project was the formation in itself, because it gathered both a string quartet and a piano duo. Marie-Laure and Célia have been playing together for almost a decade, and so have we. So, we started naturally to work with our own formation. When we reunited the two entities it was fascinating to observe how we were functioning as two musicians (a string quartet and a piano duo) and not six individualities. Of course, it didn’t mean we erased our personalities within the project, but it made it easier when we went to work on dense pieces like ‘Le poeme de l’amour et de la mer’.

Bensaid: We were happy to open up our work to different points of view from those of the duo and quartet separately. The main idea was to serve the poems and the aesthetics of French melody so it was essential to us that we were able to musically transcribe the meaning of each record, this is very present in this release and in several works, as we tried to find the same fullness and palette as the orchestra. Some of the melodies were harmonically complex, so it was important that we worked together to understand the score analytically.

Hanson Quartet: We were lucky as a quartet to work with Célia and Marie-Laure who already had a rich history and great chemistry, which was a great help for us. In all passages where the piano is driving the music, we felt like we just had to insert ourselves within the frame of the piano and the voice, adding the extra colours and expression through our lines. In a piece like ‘Le poeme de l’amour et de la mer’, we learnt that we had to find a symphonic texture to support the voice of Marie-Laure. That meant creating a different space that we had to fill with just the five of us, creating the symphonic illusion but keeping the flexibility of chamber music playing.

It was very enjoyable to fuse both entities together, the duo and the Hanson Quartet. The musicians looked for sound textures that would suggest and represent the symbolic images of the text, whether it be through sound or dynamics. Then with the voice, we had to find a balance and a sufficient space so that the text could remain intelligible.

The Hanson Quartet @Rémi Rière

We have all met each other during our studies at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, but the team really got to know each other during preparation for the recording. All of us developed a really great connection, and it was an amazing musical and human adventure! It’s very important for this kind of project to get on well with all those involved, and I think we can feel it in the music. It’s not possible to tell such a story without being fully trustful of your colleagues.

We also loved rehearsing together, taking the time to analyse the score and the lyrics together, and discovering how to balance the voice as best as we can with the piano and the colours of the strings. We were also living in the same house during the recording period, spending time together out of music practice was also very beneficial, and it helped us to become closer and strengthened our friendship.

Garnier: For me, chamber music is a meeting of personalities around a repertoire. When you discover a common desire to tackle this vast repertoire, then you must dedicate yourself to it. It is a very rich experience, both musically and personally. And sometimes, these same musicians, with whom we spend a lot of time working, become wonderful friends.