Quatuor Voce

Ballad in Red

Quartet Voce

Sarah Dayan, violin

Cécile Roubin, violin

Guillaume Becker, viola

Lydia Shelley, cello

Emmanuel Ceysson, harp

Emmanuel Ceysson needs no introduction: multi award-winning harp prodigy, soloist at the Opéra national de Paris and now at the MET Opera in New York. His meteoric rise is reminiscent of that of the nineteenth-century Frenchman Carlos Salzédo, who became the greatest harpist of his time in New York and revolutionised the repertoire for his instrument.

This new recording spans the twentieth century in a gothic-inspired programme of mystery and fantasy. Salzédo's luminous Ballade resonates here with the works of famous composers: Debussy ‘s impressionistic atmospheres shimmer, Caplet ’s fantastical settings come to life, and the beauties of Hindemith 's writing make the most of the incredible sound palette of this instrument-orchestra.

Powerful in the low register, crystalline in the high, Emmanuel Ceysson's unusual red harp - designed after Salzédo's own harp - comes into its own both in the virtuoso solo pieces and in the dialogue with the strings of the Quatuor Voce in Gustavo Leone's highly Argentinian Quinteto Rojo. 

Intelligent in its coherence, this musical journey offers a chance to discover the new and captivating sound worlds of the harp, with a repertoire specially written for this instrument.