Catalyst Quartet Releases UNCOVERED Vol. 4: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges
The Final Volume in the Quartet’s GRAMMY®-Nominated Series of Works by Historically Important Black Composers, Featuring the First Complete Recording of Bologne’s 18 String Quartets
Out Digitally on May 29, 2026 on Azica Records - Pre-Release Single – Op. 1 No. 3, Mvmt. 1 – Out May 8!
“one of the most worthwhile recording projects around, notable not just for the serious attention that the quartet is paying to Black composers who deserve it, but also for the excellence of their playing” – The New York Times
The GRAMMY®-nominated Catalyst Quartet releases UNCOVERED Volume 4: Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges on Azica Records. The digital-only album is the fourth and final issue of a multi-volume anthology highlighting string quartet works by historically important Black composers, which aims to bring greater awareness and programming of their music. 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 Saint-Georges’s musical career. This marks the first-ever commercial recording of all 18 works together.
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, composed 18 string quartets on this album, more than a dozen violin concertos, eight symphonies concertantes, and several operas, among other works. His memory, in turn, has inspired multiple books, recordings, and – most recently and uniquely – the 2022 feature film Chevalier.
UNCOVERED Volume 4 opens with Saint-Georges’ concertante quartets, published in 1779. They have no opus number but bear the subtitle “aux gôut du jour” (in the style of the time), and are representative of early Parisian renditions of the 18th-century string quartet style most associated with Haydn.
Op. 14 was Saint-Georges’s last piece of instrumental music, and a unique departure from his focus on vocal music at the time. Published in 1785, the set is perhaps more mature and confident than Saint-Georges’s entries from the 1770s, and they show his experience writing flowing vocal lines in his operatic compositions. Unlike Haydn’s quartet, however, Saint-Georges’s quickly gives way to a rushing pattern in the violin in the relative major. The first movement of the final quartet, in G minor, features delightful interplay between the instruments, including a couple of soaring solos for the cello. This dynamic extends into the second movement before the set – and with it, Saint-Georges’s involvement with instrumental music and the string quartet – ends abruptly with an understated unison on the tonic.
The final set of string quartets featured on this album, Op. 1, was likely among Saint-Georges’ first output, written at the beginning of the 1770s and published in 1773. Like all of Saint-Georges’s string quartets, they are written in two movements. Each of the Op. 1 quartets features a spritely allegro first movement in sonata form and a more wandering rondeau second movement. Taken together, they offer a window into the soundworld of Parisian chamber music circles of the late eighteenth century.
The first recording of a string quartet by Saint-Georges was released in 1974 as part of the Black Composers Series, produced by Columbia Records in association with the Afro-American Music Opportunities Association, an advocacy group founded by the pianist C. Edward Thomas. This set of eight records featured the work of major Black composers from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including other composers recorded by the Catalyst Quartet, like Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still, and George Walker. The Black Composers Series was a feat: conductor Paul Freeman led top orchestras and featured illustrious soloists. Saint-Georges’s own Symphonie Concertante, Op. 13, for example, was performed by violinists Jaime Laredo and Miram Fried, accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.
Saint-Georges’s first string quartet, Op. 1, No. 1, was also recorded on the Black Composer Series by none other than The Juilliard Quartet. Liner notes were written by the musicologist Dominique-René de Lerma, a unique figure who studied oboe with Marcel Tabuteau at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a leading scholar in the study of Black music. De Lerma had moreover reconstructed and edited many of the scores used for the album. In his notes, de Lerma identifies Saint-Georges’s early quartets as among the first to be published in France, alongside those of Gossec and Pierre Vachon.
The Catalyst Quartet’s GRAMMY®-Nominated UNCOVERED series has endeavored to produce high-quality renditions of works that have been under-performed and under-recorded music by historically important Black composers. Volume 1, released February 2021, includes the string quartet and quintets of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Stewart Goodyear; Volume 2 features works by Florence B. Price; and Volume 3, released February 2023, features Coleridge-Taylor, Perkinson, William Grant Still, and George Walker, and was nominated for a GRAMMY® Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
Track List
1-12. Six Concertante Quartets – Saint-Georges
Concertante Quartet No. 1 in B-flat Major
I. Allegro assai [3:38]
II. Gratioso [3:02]
Concertante Quartet No. 2 in G minor
I. Adagio [3:03]
II. Aria Andantino [5:35]
Concertante Quartet No. 3 in C Major
I. Allegro [4:43]
II. Rondeau-moderato [2:18]
Concertante Quartet No. 4 in F Major
I. Allegro [4:00]
II. Rondeau [2:07]
Concertante Quartet No. 5 in G Major
I. Allegro assai [4:22]
II. Gratioso [3:21]
Concertante Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major
I. Allegro [5:18]
II. Aria con variazione [3:12]
13-24. Op. 14 – Saint-Georges
String Quartet Op. 14, No. 1 in D Major
I. Movement 1 [7:19]
II. Andante, Aria con Variazioni [8:21]
String Quartet Op. 14, No. 2 in B-flat Major
I. Movement 1 [5:42]
I. Andante [4:12]
String Quartet Op. 14, No. 3 in F minor
I. Movement 1 [4:44]
I. Vivace [2:46]
String Quartet Op. 14, No. 4 in G Major
I. Movement 1 [7:21]
I. Tempo di Minuetto [2:37]
String Quartet Op. 14, No. 5 in E-flat Major
I. Movement 1 [6:13]
II. Tempo di Minuetto [4:18]
String Quartet Op. 14, No. 6 in G minor
I. Movement 1 [6:39]
I. Allegro [2:48]
25-36. Op. 1 – Saint-Georges
String Quartet Op. 1, No. 1 in C Major
I. Allegro Assai [4:30]
II. Rondeau [1:58]
String Quartet Op. 1, No. 2 in E-flat Major
I. Allegro [4:51]
II. Rondeau [2:12]
String Quartet Op. 1, No. 3 in G minor
I. Allegro [3:20]
II. Rondeau [1:33]
String Quartet Op. 1, No. 4 in C minor
I. Allegro Moderato [4:45]
II. Rondeau [2:21]
String Quartet Op. 1, No. 5 in G minor
I. Allegro [4:27]
I. Rondeau [2:53]
String Quartet Op. 1, No. 6 in D Major
I. Allegro Assai [6:08]
II. Rondeau [3:07]
Total Time: 2:29:44
ACD-71394
Producer and Recording Engineer: Alan Bise
Concertante Quartets recorded at Purchase College in June 2024
Op. 1 & 14 recorded at Drew University in June 2025
Cover Image and Graphic Design: Louise Mandumbwa
About Catalyst Quartet
Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Catalyst Quartet was founded by the Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagines their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.
The Catalyst Quartet, known for “perfect ensemble unity” and “unequaled class of execution” (Lincoln Journal Star), has toured widely throughout the United States and abroad, including sold-out performances at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Chicago’s Harris Theater, Miami’s New World Center, and Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York. The quartet has served as guest soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony, New Haven Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and has served as principal players and featured ensemble with the Sphinx Organization’s featured ensemble, the Sphinx Virtuosi, on six national tours. They have been invited to perform at important music festivals such as Mainly Mozart in San Diego, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, Strings Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival, where they appear annually. The Catalyst Quartet was ensemble-in-residence at the Vail Dance Festival in 2016, and in the 2021-22 season, they were in residence with San Francisco Performances, where they presented the complete series of works from their Uncovered Project. In 2014, they opened the Festival del Sole in Napa, California, with Joshua Bell and participated in England’s Aldeburgh Music Foundation String Quartet Residency with two performances in Jubilee Hall. In 2022, the Catalyst Quartet was named ensemble in residence for the Chamber Music Northwest Festival in Portland and for the Met Museum's Met LiveArts series in NYC.
Recent seasons have brought international engagements in Cuba, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, and expanded tours throughout the United States. The ensemble’s New York City presence has included concerts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, for Schneider Concerts at The New School, for Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series, at the 92nd Street Y, and six concerts with GRAMMY® Award-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant for Jazz at Lincoln Center, for which the subsequent recording won the 2018 GRAMMY® Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. The Catalyst Quartet launched its New York concert series CQ@Howl in 2018.
Highlights of past collaborations include Encuentros, featuring a commissioned work by innovative Cuban composer Jorge Amado Molina and other voices from across the Cuban diaspora; (Im)migration: Music of Change, a collaboration with the Imani Winds; and CQ Minute, a commissioning project of 10 miniature string quartets in commemoration of the quartet’s 10th anniversary with works by Andy Akiho, Kishi Bashi, Billy Childs, Paquito D’Rivera, Tania Leon, Jessie Montgomery, Kevin Puts, Caroline Shaw, Joan Tower, and two young composers selected from a national call for scores. The quartet premiered Passage, a chamber ballet by Jessie Montgomery in celebration of Dance Theater of Harlem on their 50th anniversary, with Kennedy Center honoree Tania Leon, and was ensemble-in-residence for the Vail International Dance Festival, where they collaborated with members of the Silkroad Ensemble and some of the finest dancers in the world.
Catalyst Quartet’s largest ongoing project, UNCOVERED, is a multi-volume set of albums on Azica Records that celebrates important composers of color whose works have been overlooked by the traditional canon. Volume 1, released February 2021, includes the string quartet and quintets of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Stewart Goodyear. Volume 2 featured works by Florence B. Price, and Volume 3, released in February 2023, featured Coleridge-Taylor, Perkinson, William Grant Still, and George Walker, and was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
The Catalyst Quartet’s recordings span the ensemble’s scope of interests and artistry. Its debut album, The Bach/Gould Project, features the quartet’s own collaborative arrangement of J.S. Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations, the first ever 4-voiced version of the piece, paired with Glenn Gould’s rarely heard String Quartet Op. 1. The ensemble can also be heard on Strum (Azica 2015), the solo debut album of composer Jessie Montgomery, who was a member violinist from 2012-2020; Bandoneón y cuerdas (Progressive Sounds 2017), tango-inspired music for string quartet and bandoneon by JP Jofre; and Dreams and Daggers (Mack Avenue Records 2017), a 2-CD GRAMMY®-winning album with Cecile McLorin Salvant.
The Catalyst Quartet combines a serious commitment to diversity and education with a passion for contemporary works. The ensemble has served as principal faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music. The Catalyst Quartet’s ongoing residencies include interactive performance presentations and workshops with Native American student composers at the Grand Canyon Music Festival. Past residencies have included concerts and masterclasses at The University Of Michigan, University Of Washington, Rice University’s Shepard School of Music, Houston’s Society for the Performing Arts, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, The Virginia Arts Festival, and Pennsylvania State University, and internationally at the In Harmony Project in England, The University of South Africa, and The Teatro De Bellas Artes in Cali, Colombia. The ensemble’s residency in Havana, Cuba for the Cuban American Youth Orchestra in January 2019, was the first by an American string quartet since the revolution.
The Catalyst Quartet members hold degrees from The Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and New England Conservatory. The Catalyst Quartet proudly endorses Pirastro strings.
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