One of a new breed of ensembles determined to throw off the stuffy image associated with the string quartet, the Quatuor Ébène has proved as revelatory in popular genres as they are playing Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert. Founded in 1999 at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory, the quartet established an early reputation for their bracingly fresh approach to the classics, which over time morphed into a desire to recapture the shock of the new for contemporary audiences. Their purely classical credentials are impeccable, as witnessed by intellectually probing yet sensual takes on the quartets of Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré (rec. 2008), and a groundbreaking cycle of Beethoven’s quartets recorded “live” Around the World (2020), which fully endorses their HIP (historically informed practice) credentials of taking absolutely nothing for granted. For a taste of life on the wilder side, try Fiction (2013), the quartet’s eclectic collection of 16 pop and jazz standards, featuring an unmissable “Some Day My Prince Will Come” (from Walt Disney’s Snow White), complete with an a cappella introduction sung in French.