Gabriel Fauré (Faure)

[Madiel]

Sounds utterly delusional.

[Florestan]

Sounds utterly delusional.

Wait! Mysterious Requiems, secret codes hidden in a keyboard, manuscripts buried in the fields, evil composers --- that's a Dan Brown novel, actually (it even has his trademark historical ignorance: the first performance of Verdi's Requiem actually took place in 1874, not in 1869).

[Mandryka]

I wonder if you'd enjoy this @Herman -  it's spiders webs and rainbows.

[Karl Henning]

Giorgio reviews Marc-André Hamelin's Fauré

[Mandryka]

https://static.qobuz.com/goodies/36/000166263.pdf

The above is the booklet for Lucas Debargue's complete piano music. Straight away you have to make two adjustments to the recording. First the order is order of composition  (I think) - so you don't get a continuous sequence of barcarolles or nocturnes. And second the piano (something called Opus 102 by Stephen Paulello) sounds like no other. The booklet is interesting, with some pointers for further reading which I hope to persue. The sound quality is strange - and is lovely in quiet music, not so sure when the music is louder where on the big quads it sounds a little bit metallic (first reaction, so don't take it too seriously, but I thought I'd mention it, and of course it could be a realistic feature of the instrument) On the basis of a handful of barcarolles the playing seems to have the lightness, the gossamer lightness, which I want.


Anyway, the bottom line is that I feel rather enthusiastic about this one, and I kind of regret not going to see him play a few weeks ago. But it needs time to form a sound judgement obvs.

[Madiel]

It's by opus number.

Which in this case generally does correspond to order of composition with some minor exceptions.

[Mandryka]

I'm listening to Debargue playing Fauré's op 103 preludes, and I'm enjoying the lightness of touch, and the changing colours very much.

[Florestan]

I'm listening to Debargue playing Fauré's op 103 preludes, and I'm enjoying the lightness of touch, and the changing colours very much.

Very apt indeed, because said Fauré: And I always enjoy seeing sunlight play on the rocks, the water, the trees and plains. What variety of effects, what brilliance and what softness... I wish my music could show as much diversity.

[Mandryka]

I actually only just found out, thanks to Debargue's chronological arrangement, that the 8th nocturne is in fact the final part of the op 84 Pièces Brèves. The whole op 84 is new to me in fact - I'm appreciating Debargue's piano more.

[Mandryka]

If you look at his booklet comments, Debargue says that he thinks that the op 103 preludes are the summit of the piano writing. I must say, listening again and again to how he plays them, I can see his point!

[Mandryka]

Volondat is very divisive. I'm really very enthusiastic about the op 103. Imaginative, interventionist, not so well recorded, often slow and full of pauses, but suffused with so much expressive melancholy that for me, it's essential.

I first got to know of Volondat  when he shared a concert platform with Henri Barda - a great pianist. So Barda and I are agreed I guess.

[Mandryka]

Totally a digression but I was recently astonished by the 1920s recording of Emma Boynet playing the Schubert G flat impromptu D. 899/3 in just 4:16.

That's the only reference to Emma Boynet I can find here. It seems wrong because her Fauré is amazing - esp the Barcarolles. Good sound, given the age.

[Spotted Horses]

My Fauré CD collection:

Nocturnes Nos. 1-6 + Theme and Variations, Op 73 - Jean Martin - Naxos 8.550794
Nocturnes Nos. 7-13 + Préludes + Romances - Jean Martin - Naxos 8.550795
Barcarolles + Ballade, Op.19 - Pierre-Alain Volondat - Naxos 8.553634
Préludes, Op. 103 + Impromptus - Pierre-Alain Volondat Naxos - 8.553740
Pelléas et Mélisande + Valses-caprices + Mazurka + Pavane - Pierre-Alain Volondat - Naxos 8.553741
Four Hand Piano Music - Pierre-Alain Volondat & Patrick De Hooge - Naxos 8.553638
Requiem + Messe basse + Cantique de Jean Racine - Jeremy Summerly - Naxos 8.550765
Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2 + Berceuse + Romance + Andante - Dong-Suk Kang & Pascal Devoyon - Naxos 8.550906
Masques et Bergamasques + Dolly Suite + Shylock + Pelléas et Melisande + Berceuse - John Georgiadis - Naxos 8.553360
String Quartet, Op. 121 - Ad Libitum Quartet - Naxos 8.554722
Une Châtelaine en sa Tour, Op. 110 + Impromptu, Op. 86 - Judy Loman - Naxos 8.554561
Sicilienne, Op. 78 + Berceuse, Op. 16 - Nora Shulman & Judy Loman - Naxos 8.554166
Requiem - Philippe Herreweghe - HMC 901771
Violin Concerto + Berceuse + Elegie + etc. - Enrique Batiz - CD DCA 686
Piano Quintets 1 & 2 - Peter Orth & Auryn Quartett - CPO 999 357-2
Piano Quartets 1 & 2 - Trio Wanderer & Antoine Tamestit - HMC 902032
Piano Quintets 1 & 2 + Piano Quartets 1 & 2 - Pascal Rogé & Quatuor Ysaÿe - Decca 475 187-2
Musique de chambre I + II [3+2 CDs] - various artists - EMI 0946 336126 2 4

A nice collection. I find that for solo piano music, it is worth having more than one recording, because different pianists can find very different things in the sophisticated texture of his music.

[Florestan]

A nice collection. I find that for solo piano music, it is worth having more than one recording, because different pianists can find very different things in the sophisticated texture of his music.

Very true, and actually I extend this philosophy to the music of all my favorite composers, irrespective of genre. The idea is, I will always want to come back to a particular work of a particular composer, or even to listen to one single work on repeat mode --- therefore having different versions is better than listening to one single recording over and over again. Especially since as of late I have noticed that exploring new (to me) music rarely yields results more/as satisfactory than/as listening to the music of my firm favorites (not to mention that, if I stopped acquiring any new recording at all, it would take me a few years to listen to all the recordings I own).

[71 dB]

A nice collection.

Thanks!

I find that for solo piano music, it is worth having more than one recording, because different pianists can find very different things in the sophisticated texture of his music.

You are probably correct, thanks for trying to help, but unlike in the past I won't let advices like this cause myself anxiety and feeling of inferiority. Chamber music is what I listen to the most by Fauré (the area he excels the most imo) and as you can see I have more than one performance of many of those works. If I listened to classical music only, I probably would have a bigger Fauré collection, but classical music is only one (but very important) genre of music I listen to. For a person like me my Fauré collection is adequate I'd say. How many of all 8 billion people in the World have a larger/better Fauré CD collection than what I listed? 800,000? That would put me in the top 0.1 promille. If I start to feel I need more Fauré I will do something about it, but at the moment I just don't feel that way...

I'm enjoying the late spring which has been nicely summer-like in Helsinki lately. I'm cycling and trying to live without anxiety after several darker years. I'm listening to the Narada New Age CDs I was able to buy cheap online. Works for me! 

[Spotted Horses]

You are probably correct, thanks for trying to help, but unlike in the past I won't let advices like this cause myself anxiety and feeling of inferiority. Chamber music is what I listen to the most by Fauré (the area he excels the most imo) and as you can see I have more than one performance of many of those works. If I listened to classical music only, I probably would have a bigger Fauré collection, but classical music is only one (but very important) genre of music I listen to. For a person like me my Fauré collection is adequate I'd say. How many of all 8 billion people in the World have a larger/better Fauré CD collection than what I listed? 800,000? That would put me in the top 0.1 promille. If I start to feel I need more Fauré I will do something about it, but at the moment I just don't feel that way...

I'm enjoying the late spring which has been nicely summer-like in Helsinki lately. I'm cycling and trying to live without anxiety after several darker years. I'm listening to the Narada New Age CDs I was able to buy cheap online. Works for me! 

Hi. My intention was not to pressure you into buying more Faure piano music, but just to make the quasi-objective point that different recordings of Faure solo piano music can "sound different" to a greater extent than typical chamber music, orchestral music, or less subtle solo piano music. Whether you find Faure solo piano music interesting enough to want to hear other versions is your choice, obviously.

[71 dB]

Hi. My intention was not to pressure you into buying more Faure piano music, but just to make the quasi-objective point that different recordings of Faure solo piano music can "sound different" to a greater extent than typical chamber music, orchestral music, or less subtle solo piano music. Whether you find Faure solo piano music interesting enough to want to hear other versions is your choice, obviously.

Of course you didn't intent to pressure me into anything and as I said, you are probably right in your point. What I tried to communicate is that I have a tendency of interpreting this kind of posts such a way that the result is anxiety, because I suffer from serious self-esteem issues. For this reason I am trying to "take" these posts in ways that do not give me anxiety. Total ignore would probably be the most effective measure (yes, I considered that too), but it would also feel very rude. So, I tried to "navigate" myself out of the dilemma and my response turned out the way it did.

[DavidW]

Of course you didn't intent to pressure me into anything and as I said, you are probably right in your point. What I tried to communicate is that I have a tendency of interpreting this kind of posts such a way that the result is anxiety, because I suffer from serious self-esteem issues. For this reason I am trying to "take" these posts in ways that do not give me anxiety. Total ignore would probably be the most effective measure (yes, I considered that too), but it would also feel very rude. So, I tried to "navigate" myself out of the dilemma and my response turned out the way it did.

I think across media (tv, books, music etc) many feel that way.  The internet has brought us a cornucopia of delights, but with it comes FOMO and even the stress of choosing.

Whatever you do then, don't look at the listening thread!!

[Le Buisson Ardent]

I'm listening to Debargue playing Fauré's op 103 preludes, and I'm enjoying the lightness of touch, and the changing colours very much.

A fine set or from what I've heard from it thus far.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

I'm sure @Madiel will be celebrating Fauré's anniversary year. I remember him being rather enamored with this composer's music and, honestly, who could blame him? He's a fabulous composer.