Kindred Quartets

The Accademia Teatro alla Scala and the Palazzetto Bru Zane continue their collaboration. Having previously devoted themselves to the mélodies and operatic arias of Jules Massenet, the quartets of César Franck, and the vocal productions of the winners of the Prix de Rome, the students of the academy turn their attention this season to piano quartets by Gabriel Fauré and his successors. The composer Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897), who followed the same path as Fauré – studying at the École Niedermeyer, then pursuing a career as an organist – features prominently in this programme. For although he was not among Fauré’s composition students at the Conservatoire, he nevertheless adopted his manner. A comparison between the piano quartets of Fauré (1880, 1886) and the one by Boëllmann (1887) shows this quite clearly.