The New York Times has described the French ensemble as “a string quartet that can easily morph into a jazz band” and its recordings of Haydn, Bartók, Brahms and Schubert have been praised all over the world. Portal and the Ébène first played together in Paris in 2013, where Piazzolla’s compositions were also on the programme, prompting Le Monde to speak of “a significant lesson, a superb encounter, a real conversation.” Eternal Stories might just turn out to be one of the best albums that Portal has ever recorded. He could well have been thinking of his beloved Charlie Parker, who in 1949 realised his dream of making a recording with a string section. Eternal Stories is not some kind of attempt at a remake, but comprises completely new pieces and two new arrangements of classic Portal numbers, a late work by Piazzolla and astonishing contributions from members of Quatuor Ébène itself.

CD With Guest Appearances By Natalie Dessay/Fanny Ardant

On this latest album from the Ébène Quartet, it's Brazil as you've never heard it before. Following their acclaimed Jazz/rock/pop fusion album Fiction (one of NPR's Top Albums, all genres 2011), the Ébène Quartet have made a mixture of bossa nova and samba, shaken up into an intoxicating cocktail of rhythms and melodies from a diverse range of cultures, countries, and musical traditions. Music includes the score from Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil, Argentinian tango, and numbers by a variety of song writers such as Stevie Wonder, Sting, and Charlie Chaplin. Joining the Ébène Quartet to add even more spice to an already stellar album are French singer-songwriter Bernard Lavilliers and the stylish American jazz singer Stacey Kent.