Catalyst Quartet to Release UNCOVERED Vol. 4 Featuring Joseph Bologne

On Friday, May 29, 2026, the GRAMMY-nominated Catalyst Quartet will release 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 via its UNCOVERED series. 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.

UNCOVERED Vol 4. 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