Catalyst Quartet presents the fourth and final release of a multi-volume anthology highlighting string quartet works by historically important Black composers. Volume 4 profiles French composer Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges and features three distinct sets of six quartets, each composed at different times in Bologne’s musical career. This marks the first-ever commercial recording of all 18 works together. The …

The Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal led by violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte offer a unique survey of the music of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, drawn from varied performance contexts:  sonatas for piano and violin, string quartets, concertos, opéras-comiques, concert arias, and symphonies. “His music — that of a performer-composer, as it was the case for most musicians of the …

The Chevalier de Saint-George(s) is an exceptional figure. Born in Guadeloupe in the eighteenth century to an aristocrat and an enslaved woman, he received the education of a court gentleman in Paris and went on to become a violinist, fencer, Freemason, participant in the Revolution, conductor, and composer. It is naturally to the violin that he dedicated his finest works. …