Members of the quintet Le Bateau ivre. (Photo: Heyoung Park)
In my years of interfacing with professional classical musicians, I’ve noticed how frequently friendships that had been established during their years of study at music schools and conservatories have continued for decades thereafter, as professional lives intersect and opportunities to collaborate present themselves on a recurring basis.
Less common — but in some ways more remarkable — is the formation of “official” collaborations that extend for years into the future. Such an instance is Le Bateau ivre, a quintet of young instrumentalists based in France that has performed together continuously since being formed during their student years nearly a decade ago.
The five artists that make up Le Bateau ivre met in Strasbourg, France in 2016 – four French musicians plus one from Italy:
- Samuel Casale (flute)
- Séréna Manganas (violin)
- Valentin Chiapello (viola)
- Kevin Bourdat (cello)
- Jean-Baptiste Haye (harp)
The catalyst that brought them together was an opportunity to study and present the 1925 Quintet of Jean Cras in three competitions that resulted in prizewinning successes for the ensemble:
- Léopold Bellan International Competition (Paris, 2016, First Prize)
- Osaka International Music Competition (Japan, 2017)
- Lucca Virtuoso & Belcanto Competition (Italy, 2018)
With the support and encouragement of flautist Michel Moraguès at the Paris Conservatoire as well as teachers Luc-Marie Aguera (violinist) and Fabrice Pierre (conductor and harpist), the five musicians of Le Bateau ivre decided to continue playing together while also entering the ECMA (European Chamber Music Academy) program for European chamber ensembles in 2019.
In February 2020, the Quintet was invited to perform in a Générations France Musique broadcast, where they played the fourth movement from the Jean Cras Quintet:
In the ensuing years, Le Bateau ivre has continued to research, study and play repertoire featuring their five instruments — along the way concepting a number of intriguing thematic programs which have been presented to audiences in France and beyond.
Pierre Jamet (1893-1991). The harp soloist gave the first performance of Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola & Harp in 1917 in the presence of the composer. In addition to his solo career, Jamet played in the Lamoureux, Pasdeloup, Colonne and Paris Opéra Orchestras and was a harp professor at the Paris Conservatoire. (Photo: Carl Swanson, 1982)
A significant focus of their attention has been the astonishing array of music that the noted French harpist Pierre Jamet commissioned from composers in the 1930s for his Quintette instrumental de Paris (later named the Quintette Pierre Jamet) – some 50+ commissions in total.
Among those compositions are Marionnettes, a piece composed by László Lajtha in 1937, which has been performed and recorded by Le Bateau ivre (alongside the Jean Cras Quintet plus Le Chant de Linos by André Jolivet).
Le Bateau ivre’s debut recording, released in 2022 on the Paris Conservatoire’s Initiale label, features works by László Lajtha, Jean Cras and André Jolivet that were commissioned by Pierre Jamet and his quintet in the 1930s and ’40s. Natably, it is just the second commercial recording of the Lajtha Marionnettes.
Florent Schmitt (r.) photographed with the Hungarian-born French composer, ethnomusicologist and conductor László Lajtha (1892-1963).
Besides those three composers, some of the other prominent musicians who wrote music for the Quintette instrumental de Paris included Vincent d’Indy, Albert Roussel, Charles Koechlin, Germaine Tailleferre, Marcel Tournier, Jean Françaix … and Florent Schmitt.
A vintage copy of the score to Florent Schmitt’s infectiously delightful Suite en rocaille for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp (1934).
In the case of Schmitt, the work he created was the four-movement Suite en rocaille, Op. 84, composed in 1934. It’s an irresistibly charming work that counts among the best-loved of Schmitt’s “intimate” compositions for chamber ensemble – on par aesthetically with his Sonatine en trio (1935) and the quartet Pour presque tous les temps (Quartet for Almost All the Time — 1955).
Pierre Jamet’s quintet recorded Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille in 1936, a year after premiering the work at a Triton Chamber Music Society concert in Paris … and it was Jamet’s own harpist daughter Marie-Claire who would make a second recording of the piece with her own ensemble of musicians some thirty years later.
Marie-Claire Jamet’s 1963 Erato recording of Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille also includes works by Ravel and Roussel.
Along with many other compositions that they researched, the musicians of Le Bateau ivre read through Schmitt’s composition. Finding its writing complex, they set the piece aside for some years before returning to it in 2024 when concepting their newest themed program titled Echoes of a Secret Garden.
The second time around they found the work infectiously delightful – and substantive as well — its inventiveness and charms growing with each successive interaction with the score.
I have followed the artistic trajectory of Le Bateau ivre with great interest over the years, not only finding the quality of their playing uncommonly good, but also recognizing the ensemble’s obvious joie de vivre and undeniable audience appeal as an attractive performing group. I’d long hoped that they would add Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille to their repertoire, knowing that the piece would ideally suited to their musicianship.
Consequently, once the announcement came that the suite would begin appearing on their programs in 2024 and 2025, I contacted the musicians of Le Bateau ivre to learn more about their journey with the Suite en rocaille, along with exploring their interest in other music composed for their combination of instruments, as well as their ensemble’s artistic growth and maturation. Highlights of our conversation are presented below. (Note: The interview has been translated from French to English.)
PLN: How did the five of you meet, and how was your quintet established?
Kevin Bourdat: We met in 2015 in Strasbourg at Samuel’s initiative. After discovering the Quintet of Villa Lobos, he first asked Jean-Baptiste and Valentin to work on the Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Piano. After that, Séréna and I joined the ensemble.
Jean Cras (1879-1932), dressed in his French naval medical officer’s uniform. (ca. 1899 photo)
The first piece that we worked on as a group was the Quintet by Jean Cras, a piece that enabled us to win our first competition – the First Prize at the Léopold Bellan International Competition in April 2016.
This experience was a very affirming and unifying one for the group, and it helped us move forward confidently with our further plans.
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1941). This “shooting star” talent, destined to change the world of French poetry, penned Le Bateau ivre at the age of 17.
Jean Cras’ unusual journey as a man and musician — his maritime and impressionistic universe — along with our shared desire to travel together on a fascinating voyage with little-known repertoire, led us to name our quintet “Le Bateau ivre” [“The Drunken Boat”] taken from the eponymous verse written by the pathfinding Symbolist French poet Arthur Rimbaud.
Le Bateau ivre (verse by Arthur Rimbaud, 1871).
PLN: How did you discover the rarely performed Quintet by Cras, and what has been your experience in presenting this wonderful work to the public?
Samuel Casale: It was while searching on the Internet that I came across this beautiful piece. Based on its fine qualities, Jean-Baptiste and I wanted to start with that work.
Jean-Baptiste Haye (Photo: Jeroen Berends)
Jean-Baptiste Haye: We performed the piece for the first time in public in Paris at the Léopold Bellan International Competition in 2016. Happily, we won the highest award – the First Prize of Honor. The piece was warmly received on that occasion, and since then it has become a constant companion in our concert activities for almost ten years.
La Grande traversée, Le Bateau ivre’s musical show for young children inspired by the maritime and musical career of French composer Jean Cras.
Kevin Bourdat: The piece is so familiar to us by now, we have been performing it without the score for several years. It appeals powerfully to the imagination and awakens very varied images – even in audiences not used to hearing classical music. It is also the work that inspired our very first children’s show, La Grande traversée.
PLN: When did you first become aware of Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille? What attracted you to this piece?
Valentin Chiapello: Going back to our first year of study together in Strasbourg, in our search of repertoire we planned rehearsals where we simply read through scores, in order to decide on the ones that we’d want to explore in greater depth.
Samuel Casale: I remember that year when we did so much repertoire research – I think it was in 2018. Given its particular and unique character, we always wanted to integrate the Suite en rocaille into a program — even if not right away. And then for the first time last summer, we finally found the space it deserved in our newest program.
Valentin Chiapello
Valentin Chiapello: Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille was among the numerous works we encountered back then — but to be honest, its abstruse and difficult language challenged us at our first reading. It was only years later, after having acquired more experience working together, that we returned to it and managed to make this gem truly shine.
Samuel Casale: I think what particularly attracted us was its “mocking nature” in the harmonies, combined with a remarkable instrumentation and use of counterpoint that is quite rare for our particular combination of instruments.
Valentin Chiapello: One difficulty of the piece lies in bringing out the simplicity of the melody despite the highly complex and challenging instrumental counterpoint. Writing that might seem thankless at first glance — one wonders why the score is so difficult for a piece that comes across so simply on the ear – actually provides an inexhaustible richness to the work. The more we play it, the more the music reveals itself and the more we can appreciate it!
PLN: I would like to know your opinion of each of the movements of the Suite en rocaille – what makes each of them particularly interesting, or even unique. Starting with the first movement Sans hate…
Séréna Manganas
Séréna Manganas: This is the movement that surprised me the most in the suite. At first the movement didn’t really speak to me, but over time and the more I played it, the more I become attracted to its harmonies — the different parts – and the more I find real pleasure in interpreting and playing it.
Samuel Casale: First of all, the carillon character of the harp with lots of high and crystalline sounds combines with haphazard harmonies to create a funny and even at times strange atmosphere. The rhythm combination of two sixteenth notes-eighth note is quite rarely used in classical music — and in this case it has an amusing aspect.
Kevin Bourdat: From its very first notes I’m captivated by the magic that emerges from this movement, produced by the exquisite treatment of the instrumentation by Schmitt who gives the quintet a very particular flavor — clearly and deliberately in the lineage of French baroque music. The central part, which is a little less fast in tempo, is a jewel of impressionism chiseled with a subtle polyrhythm.
The first page from a vintage copy of the score to Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille, published by Durand in 1935.
PLN: What about the second movement Animé?
Samuel Casale: This movement has writing that is at once “minimalist” and “orchestral.” It starts with a single note and opens up to very full tuttis. Once each of the different voices is revealed, this movement is a real treat to experience.
Kevin Bourdat: Carried by its breathless rhythms, this movement is very stimulating when performed in concert. The cello part is constantly shifting from an almost percussive role to exhilarating lyrical flights.
Jean-Baptiste Haye: This is the movement that requires the most work from me on the harp. I love the swaying side of the rhythm in 5/8; however, it is difficult to master so as not to “crush” the sounds and miss the harmony. It’s a delicate balance to strike between pulsation and lightness, despite the harmonic and melodic complexity.
PLN: What are the special qualities of the third movement Sans lenteur?
Samuel Casale
Samuel Casale: This movement has an uncomplicated theme that wanders between the instruments – a simple tenderness, intermittently mixed with mischievous episodes.
Séréna Manganas: This is actually my favorite movement of the suite. I find it very figurative and even metaphorical. It engenders in me a feeling of lightness mixed with deep joy — and at the same time it conveys a feeling of nostalgia.
Kevin Bourdat: I sense in this movement a wonderful evocation of the baroque minuet with its elegant hemiolas, yet without falling into cliché. The harmonies are very colorful and warm. By slowing down the movement to the figure three, Florent Schmitt turns the initial delicacy into a heart-stopping main course that calls upon the quintet’s full dynamic range.
PLN: And finally, the last movement Vif?
Valentin Chiapello: There’s this childlike melody that recurs throughout the movement that immediately made us think of a nursery rhyme that we could hum while walking or skipping.
Kevin Bourdat: Valentin is correct – that initial gesture of this finale is disarmingly simple, where we can feel pure pleasure of playing for the audience, for the composer, and for ourselves.
Samuel Casale: A spring song, I would say — little games of love and nonsense!
Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille was created for Pierre Jamet and the Quintette instrumental de Paris, as this dedication in the score shows.
PLN: Florent Schmitt gave some of his compositions interesting titles – sometimes with double-meanings. The Suite en rocaille could be considered one of those pieces. What might have motivated Schmitt’s choice of words in his title?
Kevin Bourdat: By referring to 18th century instrumental music and “rock garden” designs from the same period, Florent Schmitt appears to be working in the neoclassical vein of other French composers of his time – particularly among the students of the Schola Cantorum – who were influenced by the repertoire of French classicism from Lully to Rameau.
Kevin Bourdat
However, Schmitt also plays on the pejorative connotation associated with the term “rocaille” from the 19th century onwards to distance himself from a blissful and nostalgic imitation. Instead, he appropriates and interprets baroque rhetoric with great freedom and creativity, while respecting the rhythmic unity within the movements specific to the dance suite. By referring to it himself with self-mockery a “suite de moins de quatre sous” (“Less than Four Cents Suite”), Schmitt takes the polar-opposite view of the grandiloquence of the post-Romantics and Wagnerians of his time.
PLN: You performed the Suite en rocaille in public for the first time in Metz, France, in October 2024. How long did you prepare the piece before your first performance?
Samuel Casale: We undertook three full rehearsals devoted exclusively to this music to ensure that we would render it well in concert.
Jean-Baptiste Haye: It’s a piece that we put together rather quickly in preparation for the Metz performance, but it is one that we will continue to work on for a very long time. It is complex and rich in its harmonic and rhythmic writing and in the music it conveys. It is a score that requires not only group work but also “maturation” that only comes with time.
A poster publicizing the debut presentation of Le Bateau ivre’s new program Echoes of a Secret Garden in Metz, France in October 2024. The program “seeks to capture the flavor of the early 20th century salons of Paris, where leading figures of music, literature, the visual arts and architecture came together to weave a kaleidoscope of emotions and colors.”
PLN: Do you intend to perform the piece in other concerts in the future?
Valentin Chiapello: Yes of course! The piece is part of our newest program Échos d’un jardin secret [Echoes of a Secret Garden] that we intend to present on tour and to offer for a long time. It is a musical journey of well-being that allows for an escape from everyday life! It’s a program that enables us to take an excursion with the audience to a poetic “safe place” – a contemplative refuge.
The Echoes of a Secret Garden musical content is emblematic of Le Bateau ivre’s inventive approach to programming.
Séréna Manganas: Our immediate plans are to perform this piece and this program in Strasbourg, Vitry-le-François, Nancy and Paris in January and February 2025.
PLN: Echoes of a Secret Garden is the kind of inventive programming that your quintet has been presenting for a long time. How do you go about researching and discovering the repertoire to include in your programs?
Pierre Jamet and his Quintette instrumental de Paris were responsible for more than 50 commissioned works by famous and not-so-famous composers. The ensemble presented 1,800+ concerts over a 40-year span from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Jean-Baptiste Haye: Several steps are necessary to develop each program. We’ve done historical research at the BNF and Pierre Jamet Foundation in order to discover and determine the pieces that best catch our attention. From there, we typically design programs using two approaches – either starting with the music or with an idea. For Les Échos, we wanted to focus on intimacy in love, poetry and the visual arts.
Kevin Bourdat: In this program, our objective is to create on stage an atmosphere inspired by the Parisian salons of the early 20th century where all the arts — music, poetry, painting, sculpture, design and decoration – interacted freely.
As with our other programs, the imagination summoned by the elements that we offer (texts, songs, paintings) allows us to weave links between the works and their socio-historical context while addressing subjects that are close to our hearts, such as the position of women composers and artists as creators in the case of Les Échos program.
Le Bateau ivre (Photo: Alexia Ferdinand, October 2024)
PLN: What other special activities do you have in preparation for 2025 and 2026, including performances and possibly new recordings?
Séréna Manganas: We have numerous concerts planned — some of them featuring Florent Schmitt’s piece. There is also the project of recording our next album, Les Jours heureux.
Valentin Chiapello: We continue to diversify our approach to music with a Chanson française project featuring a vocalist and staging. We are particularly looking forward to this new project, as it is very exciting to get out of our comfort zones in the context of new projects and repertoire.
PLN: Is Le Bateau ivre planning any international touring as well?
The 2-CD reissue of nearly the complete discography of 78-rpm recordings made by Pierre Jamet and his Quintette instrumental de Paris (Timpani label, 2008).
Samuel Casale: We have been considering a tour in Italy for a long time, which could see the light of day in the summer of 2026. Bringing our repertoire to North America, walking in the footsteps of Pierre Jamet and the Quintette instrumental de Paris, is also one of our fondest dreams!
PLN: Do you have any additional comments to make about the Suite en rocaille or Florent Schmitt’s artistry in general?
Florent Schmitt photographed in 1937, a few years after composing his Suite en rocaille. (Photo: ©Lipnitzki/Roger-Viollet)
Séréna Manganas: We are very grateful to Florent Schmitt and the Quintette instrumental de Paris for having left us this piece – an absolutely unique and precious contribution to the repertoire for our combination of instruments. The Suite en rocaille is a work full of hope and enthusiasm. It is wonderful for us to be able to present a piece like this, enlightening the present day through knowledge of the past.
Samuel Casale: It was a pleasure to discover Florent Schmitt “up close” through this piece. We’re looking forward to presenting future concert performances of this music, as well as presenting additional chamber music by Schmitt in other formations.
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We are indebted to the intrepid musicians of Le Bateau ivre for discovering and introducing gems like Florent Schmitt’s Suite en rocaille to a new generation of concert-goers. Hopefully the quintet’s musical travels will bring them to the Western Hemisphere, were they will be met by audiences eager to experience their artistry.