Gabriel Fauré (Faure)

[Madiel]

That disc seems to have got underwhelming reviews. Or at least some variable ones.

For me Faure's chamber music automatically gets associated with the Hyperion label, but then for me a LOT of things are automatically associated with the Hyperion label!

[amw]

For me Faure's chamber music automatically gets associated with the Hyperion label, but then for me a LOT of things are automatically associated with the Hyperion label!

Seriously. I have more Hyperion than Deutsche Grammophon in my collection at this point, or any other label except Decca (which only wins out if you fold in Philips, L'Oiseau-Lyre and Argo).

I've been kind of obsessed with the Barcarolles lately. They are the amazingest. My fixation's been No. 3, I think almost entirely because of the E-flat major chord in the third bar*, but I think that is now being replaced with No. 5 and its crayzee rhythms.

*
I suppose it sets up the wider extended tonality of the piece & all the harmonic weirdness that is to follow, or something. But I'm not thinking that when I listen, it just sets my heart a-flutter for some reason. Particularly if the pianist plays the half-staccato RH notes with noticeable hesitancy.

[Madiel]

but I think that is now being replaced with No. 5 and its crayzee rhythms.

ACK! Barcarolle No.5 is... amazeballs!!

I tried to learn it. I never quite nailed it down, but could sort of work through it with enough flow to not embarrass myself. It's bizarre and yet brilliant. You've got the 'A' sections where the harmony just constantly changes, and then you've got the 'B' sections which are a little more harmonically stable but the tune changes octave constantly - and it's incredible how the ear pieces it together as a tune, even though the hands are absolutely flailing.

The coda is extraordinary, because after all the twisting and turning you have to do in the rest of the piece, the coda fits under the hands beautifully.

[TheGSMoeller]

Such a quiet thread!!

I am considering this collection of the chamber works (below). Thoughts?

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Performances are great, but the sound is an issue as mentioned above. However, get past that issue and you have an incredibly priced box set. Along with the Virgin set I also have this one from Brilliant which is a little more expensive, but I spin both sets about the same. And I might add these contain some of the most beautiful chamber music from that century. Get'em both! 

[EigenUser]

Seriously. I have more Hyperion than Deutsche Grammophon in my collection at this point, or any other label except Decca (which only wins out if you fold in Philips, L'Oiseau-Lyre and Argo).

I've been kind of obsessed with the Barcarolles lately. They are the amazingest. My fixation's been No. 3, I think almost entirely because of the E-flat major chord in the third bar*, but I think that is now being replaced with No. 5 and its crayzee rhythms.

*
I suppose it sets up the wider extended tonality of the piece & all the harmonic weirdness that is to follow, or something. But I'm not thinking that when I listen, it just sets my heart a-flutter for some reason. Particularly if the pianist plays the half-staccato RH notes with noticeable hesitancy.

ACK! Barcarolle No.5 is... amazeballs!!

I tried to learn it. I never quite nailed it down, but could sort of work through it with enough flow to not embarrass myself. It's bizarre and yet brilliant. You've got the 'A' sections where the harmony just constantly changes, and then you've got the 'B' sections which are a little more harmonically stable but the tune changes octave constantly - and it's incredible how the ear pieces it together as a tune, even though the hands are absolutely flailing.

The coda is extraordinary, because after all the twisting and turning you have to do in the rest of the piece, the coda fits under the hands beautifully.

Oh my god : in-depth and specific discussion of actual pieces instead of performances!

Why, oh why, can't this happen more often on GMG? Whenever it does, I seem to always learn something new. Thanks to this I just discovered the 3rd Barcarolle (only heard part of it last night because I was too tired) and I loved it. I think I'll give them a listen later today.

[Madiel]

Ha. Give me the right composer and I'll chew your ear off. Faure. Holmboe - I've picked apart all the string quartets AND all the symphonic works on his thread. And hey, I'm stumbling through the Brahms chamber music on the Brahms thread.

[amw]

ACK! Barcarolle No.5 is... amazeballs!!

I tried to learn it. I never quite nailed it down, but could sort of work through it with enough flow to not embarrass myself. It's bizarre and yet brilliant. You've got the 'A' sections where the harmony just constantly changes, and then you've got the 'B' sections which are a little more harmonically stable but the tune changes octave constantly - and it's incredible how the ear pieces it together as a tune, even though the hands are absolutely flailing.

The coda is extraordinary, because after all the twisting and turning you have to do in the rest of the piece, the coda fits under the hands beautifully.

I've sight-read it once. Slowly. When I go back to normal levels of busyness instead of insane ones it's a piece I'd really like to sit down with for a few hours. Fauré's harmony is really the best thing in the history of things, but also no other composer uses meter so subtly since, like, Monteverdi or something. That delicate balance of 2+2+2+3 vs. 3+3+3 couldn't exist outside late romanticism (pretty much incompatible with the 18th and 20th century's notions of a strongly articulated subtactile pulse, such as Haydn & Bartók—the balance depends on a tactus [sub-bar beat unit] that's blurred almost to the point of unrecogniseability but not quite) but all the other late romantics just keep putting everything in 4/4 and leaving it there. Except Medtner I guess. You have to have enough flow to make the shifts seem part of an unbroken continuity, but you also have to mark the beats just enough that we can still remember we're on a gondola. This makes phrasing the Barcarolle, to use the technical piano industry term, "a total bitch".

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

A coupla years ago, CPK pointed out how wonderful Fauré's mélodie Le Secret is.  I want to do the same with another of his, Reflets dans l'eau one of four in the appropriately titled Mirages series - and (confessedly) proselytize the heck outta it.  I don't often hear of Mirages. I was reminded of this particular song yesterday when, working in the garden, I noticed a puddle formed by a momentarily neglected hose (nope, don't live in California).  Not only is this song extraordinary in its subtle descriptive, contemplative deftness, it's proof - not that any is needed - of the composer's consummate skill at merging text and music.  Art Song, indeed.  The poem on which it's based, by Baronne de Brimont, is extraordinary in and of itself.  Like 'concrete poetry', yet without going to those 'extremes', its structure resembles something of concentric circles formed by that of a dropped pebble in water or a simple touch, the phenomenological basis of the poem, giving rise to what one sees - or thinks one sees on the surface of the water...or is it the soul's reflection? Ô cher Passé mystérieux :  Memory, desire, sensual delight.  Check out Fauré's clever use of triplet eighth-note chords - deftly dissolving into regular eighth notes to suggest ripples in water, circles ever-widening, before once again finding peace in motionlessness:  Et puis le miroir enchanté reprendra sa limpidité froide et sereine (And then the enchanted mirror will again assume its clarity, cold and serene).

Here's Gérard Souzay on Youtube :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUSJKcM4N6Y
French text here :  http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=3160

[Madiel]

I'm away from home and can't access my collection, but if that's the song I think it is, the musical painting of the water rippling is one of the most superb things ever.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Fans of Fauré mélodies owe it to themselves to seek out Yves Montand's performance of Les Berceaux - some liberties are taken, of course, but I think it's irresistible.  Hope you might, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRqF0b56G2k

Montand recorded it several times; I actually prefer the version on his album: La Bicyclette. 

[James The 1st]

Faure is awesome. Pretty much all his chamber works, the piano works and of course the Requiem are fantastic.

[Mirror Image]

I've bought a good bit of Faure lately.

Cross-posted from the 'Purchases' thread:

Just bought:

Does anyone have any comments on these purchases? Do any of you own them? The Le Sage chamber set came out not too long ago. The Trio Wanderer recordings on Harmonia Mundi should be excellent.

[71 dB]

Does anyone have any comments on these purchases? Do any of you own them? The Le Sage chamber set came out not too long ago. The Trio Wanderer recordings on Harmonia Mundi should be excellent.

I have the Piano Quartets/Trio Wanderer/Antoine Tamestit and Requiem/Herreweghe discs. The former is excellent and the latter was disappointing (strange) imo.

[Jo498]

I also like the Wanderer/Tamestit but although I have several other recordings I have never done close comparison. All discs have been reviewed positively, I think, but I have not heard any of them. I can hardly imagine a really bad recording by Isabelle Faust (maybe too "cool" at worst)

[Mirror Image]

I have the Piano Quartets/Trio Wanderer/Antoine Tamestit and Requiem/Herreweghe discs. The former is excellent and the latter was disappointing (strange) imo.

Coincidently, I listened to some of Herregweghe's recording of the his Rquiem before I bought it and found nothing strange about it. If anything, it was just flat-out lyrical and extremely beautiful.

I also like the Wanderer/Tamestit but although I have several other recordings I have never done close comparison. All discs have been reviewed positively, I think, but I have not heard any of them. I can hardly imagine a really bad recording by Isabelle Faust (maybe too "cool" at worst)

Yeah, Faust is an excellent musician. I've never heard anything 'bad' from her either.

[amw]

I also like the Wanderer/Tamestit but although I have several other recordings I have never done close comparison. All discs have been reviewed positively, I think, but I have not heard any of them. I can hardly imagine a really bad recording by Isabelle Faust (maybe too "cool" at worst)

I do not like Wanderer much—Harmonia Mundi Syndrome (excellent playing but boring interpretation). I have some problems with the Le Sage chamber music set mostly in the quartets and quintets, which sounded a bit scrappy somehow? Not sure how to describe it, I can re-listen. I mean the playing, not the sound quality; like they're struggling with the material perhaps. My choice for the 4tets & 5tets is, obviously, Domus, but there's also a set with Collard doing piano that was good.

There's no such thing as a bad Izzy recording and she's an excellent Fauréist, though I have to say my favourite violin sonatas will always* be those by Pierre Amoyal & Pascal Rogé.

* maybe

[Jo498]

The Brilliant set has Domus' Susan Tomes with Krysia Osostowicz in the violin sonatas. There are also recordings by Grumiaux, Ferras... the violin sonatas might be the best served part of Fauré's chamber output. The Brilliant set seems overall pretty good to me although there are probably better recordings for most pieces to be found.

There were several overlapping EMI (France) sets with all major works, with JP Collard participating in most works.

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[Que]

There were several overlapping EMI (France) sets with all major works, with JP Collard participating in most works.

Here is the last reissue: 

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If you don't mind '70s recording quality, this is an excellent set with many nice and idiomatic performances throughout. Recommended.
I do like the Trio Wanderer and prefer them to Domus BTW

Q

[Jo498]

Interesting. This last incarnation seems to use the older recordings. Of the twofers there were some that had the violin sonatas with Dumay/Collard, not Ferras/Barbizet and also differed in some other recordings.

I have an older recording of the cello sonatas with Totelier/Hubeau. So the French musicians can't really be blamed for not recording lots of Fauré...

[Scion7]

vinyl days ...