Philharmonie de Paris

Scènes de la forêt

Sunday, March 9th 2025 - 11:00am

Mathilde Calderini, flute
Constance Luzzati, harp
Hermès Quartet

Birds chirping in the trees, leaves rustling in the wind, branches cracking underfoot… Composed in 1904, Scènes de la forêt by French composer Mel Bonis illustrates, through the interplay of timbres, the thousand nuances of sound in an enchanted forest. Despite this finesse of writing, the work was described by the critics of the time, with a touch of misogyny, as “ingenuous and lacking neither freshness nor grace”. It is indeed the restful freshness of the undergrowth that we perceive in the scintillating Nocturne, while A l’aube and Invocation seem to illustrate a sense of wonder at the beauty of a magical Nature where we may encounter vanished divinities (Pour Artemis). A meditative atmosphere also dominates the Triptyque champêtre, whose Morning Enchantment seems illuminated by the dawn sun. Dated 1925, this work predates by twenty years the Second String Quartet, written in the aftermath of the Second World War. Charlotte Sohy’s dark memories of this “awful calamity” seem to shine through in the terrible Andante, while the more rhythmic, bucolic final Rondo seems to pave the way for a spring-like rebirth. Dated 1916, Amy Beach’s Theme and Variations Op. 80 is less sombre, but just as nostalgic, uniting string quartet and flute around a haunting melody that becomes at times a melancholy waltz (Andantino con morbidezza), at other times an orientalist melody (L’istesso tempo), like a kaleidoscope reflecting the thousand facets of a nature fantasized by memory.

PROGRAM

Montages-artistes-24-25-_4_-_1_

SCÈNES DE LA FORÊT

CHARLOTTE SOHY (1887-1955)
Quartet n°2
Triptyque champêtre

MEL BONIS (1858-1937)
Scènes de la forêt

AMY BEACH (1867-1944)
Theme and variations

ELSA BARRAINE

DISTRIBUTION

Mathilde Calderini, flute
Constance Luzzati, harp
Hermès Quartet

Lucile Richardot

MATHILDE CALDERINI

A talented young flautist, Mathilde Calderini is the winner of several competitions: First Prize at the prestigious Kobe International Flute Competition in Japan, First Prize at the Buffet Crampon Competition, Best Young Talent Prize at the Maxence Larrieu International Flute Competition, and Adami Classical Revelation of the Year 2012. Mathilde Calderini studied flute with Claude Lefebvre at the CRR de Paris, then with Sophie Cherrier and Vincent Lucas at the CNSM de Paris. She then went on to perfect her skills at the Royal Academy of Music in London with William Bennett and Samuel Coles. It was under the guidance of Paul Meyer and Eric Le Sage that Mathilde Calderini developed her passion for chamber music. She is a member of the Ouranos Ensemble, a variable-geometry wind quintet currently in residence at the Fondation Singer-Polignac, which won First Prize and Audience Prize at the Lyon International Chamber Music Competition. Mathilde leads a solo career throughout Europe and Asia. She also performs in recital and chamber music, alongside Renaud Capuçon, Nicolas Angelich, Paul Meyer, Edgar Moreau, Aurèle Marthan, Guillaume Bellom, Sylvain Blassel, Agnès Clément, Denis Pascal, Marie Chilemme… In February 2020, Mathilde was appointed Solo Flute of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

Constance Luzzati

CONSTANCE LUZZATI

Continuing the work begun as part of her doctorate in harp transcription of the 18th-century French harpsichord repertoire, Constance Luzzati has adapted works for harp by Rameau, Couperin, Royer, Forqueray, Duphly, Scarlatti and Bach. Enharmonique (2023), a solo album devoted to Rameau, and Jupiter (2024) were hailed by critics from Classica to Télérama and Médiapart. Dedicated to works for solo harp by Bruno Mantovani and Édith Lejet, in 2023-24 she premieres works by Vincent Trollet and Josephine Stephenson, with the Regards ensemble and the Trio Haydée. She recently recorded La montagne magique (Cascavelle, 2023) with the Lontano quartet and Charlotte Sohy, compositrice de la Belle-Époque (La boîte à pépites, 2022) with flutist Mathilde Calderini and the Hermès quartet. Winner of six international competitions, she has been honored in France by Avant-scènes (CNSMDP), Cultures France, the Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation and the Tissier-Grandpierre Prize.
She has been teaching music history at the CNSMDP since 2021. An alumnus of the Florent drama school, she has directed plays by Emmanuel Demarcy-Motta and Jacques Vincey, and created shows combining music, text and circus arts, including La Volière magique (2023), for harp and corde lisse.

Anne de Fornel

QUATUOR HERMÈS

The Hermes Quartet, named after the famous messenger from Greek mythology, draws its musical strength from its role as a bridge between the composer’s text and the audience’s sensibility. The musicians also establish this identity through their travels to the four corners of the globe. New York’s Carnegie Hall, Beijing’s Forbidden City and London’s Wigmore Hall are just some of the venues that have made their mark. The quartet is also present at major festivals such as Folles Journées in Nantes and Tokyo, the Radio-France festival in Montpellier, the Easter and Août Musical festivals in Deauville, La Roque d’Anthéron, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mantova Chamber Music festival, le printemps des Alizés in Morocco, Wonderfeel festival…
The group’s original formation was born in 2008 within the walls of Lyon’s CNSMD, where they studied with members of the Ravel Quartet. They then went on to enrich their repertoire with the likes of the Ysaÿe Quartet and the Artemis Quartet. Open to all repertoires, they regularly share the stage with such outstanding musicians as Yo-Yo Ma, Nicholas Angelich, Gregor Sigl, Pavel Kolesnikov, Anne Gastinel…
Their latest recording of Schubert quartets, for La Dolce Volta, won Classica magazine’s Choc and a Trophée Radio Classique, and was named CD of the week by Bavarian radio station Br-Klassik.

do you know
Mel bonis?