The string quartet of the Germanic countries, which reached the height of its stylistic perfection at the end of the eighteenth century, was based on absolute equality between the four instruments – a principle that was not immediately adopted in France, where Rode and Baillot cultivated the “quatuor brillant”, in which the first violin predominates. Under Beethoven’s influence, however, this egalitarian type of quartet gradually took over, along with the idea of the string quartet as the most serious of all genres.

George Onslow and Théodore Gouvy became the French counterparts of Mendelssohn and Schumann. Gouvy, especially, demonstrated the modern taste for experimental scherzos and nostalgic intermezzos. Curiously, although they represent a vital link in the evolution of the French quartet in the 1850s, many of works in the genre long remained in unpublished manuscript form. Even more surprisingly, only one of his five Cello Quintets, the one in G major, was published, despite the under-representation of that very Romantic genre, with only the works of Onslow and Schubert’s famous contribution.

Far from the vain virtuosity of the much earlier works of Reicha, Boccherini and others, Gouvy’s quintets show great depth of thought, perfect timing, and a marvellous taste for bold modulations.