Jean Cras was born in France, in the Breton city of Brest, in 1879 and died there in 1932; he was successful in reconciling his twin passions for the sea and for music throughout his life.
Cras liked to associate free melody with strictness of form and was also greatly influenced by his native land as well as by the exotic destinations that he discovered during his voyages.
Jean Cras made a significant contribution to the French chamber music repertoire. The quality of his mature works is not only exceptionally high, but they also possess naturalness of manner, charm, and lyricism. His compositions were greatly appreciated by audiences and were generally first performed in Paris shortly after their completion.
The Belgian Ensemble Oxalys with Belgian soprano Sophie Karthäuser as a guest present here three superb quintets that were composed during the 1920s.

Booklet: FR, EN, DE, NL