Faure - Nocturnes & Barcarolles, Dolly Suite
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Label: Hyperion
Cat No: CDA68331-2
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 2
Genre: Instrumental
Release Date: 1st September 2023
Contents
Artists
Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)Cathy Fuller (piano)
Works
Barcarolles (13)Dolly Suite, op.56
Nocturnes 1-13 (complete)
Artists
Marc-Andre Hamelin (piano)Cathy Fuller (piano)
About
The Nocturnes and Barcarolles demonstrate Fauré's art at its most personal, progressing from early lyricism to the elusive, rarefied style of the later works.
Marc-André Hamelin's performances are predictably fine, and combine exceptional subtlety with magisterial keyboard authority.
"The poetic sheen and finish of all these performances are things to marvel at, leaving me to long for more Debussy, to say nothing of Fauré and Ravel, from an artist supremely attuned to the French repertoire" - Gramophone Magazine (Debussy - Images & Preludes II, CDA67920)
Marc-André Hamelin's performances are predictably fine, and combine exceptional subtlety with magisterial keyboard authority.
"The poetic sheen and finish of all these performances are things to marvel at, leaving me to long for more Debussy, to say nothing of Fauré and Ravel, from an artist supremely attuned to the French repertoire" - Gramophone Magazine (Debussy - Images & Preludes II, CDA67920)
Sound/Video
Paused
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13 Nocturnes, op.33: No.1 in E flat minor (c.1875)
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23 Nocturnes, op.33: No.2 in B major (c.1881)
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33 Nocturnes, op.33: No.3 in A flat major (1883)
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4Nocturne No.4 in E flat major, op.36 (1884)
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5Nocturne No.5 in B flat major, op.37 (1884)
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6Nocturne No.6 in D flat major, op.63 (1894)
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7Nocturne No.7 in C sharp minor, op.74 (1898)
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8Nocturne No.8 in D flat major, op.84 no.8 (1902)
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9Nocturne No.9 in B minor, op.97 (?1908)
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10Nocturne No.10 in E minor, op.99 (1908)
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11Nocturne No.11 in F sharp minor, op.104 no.1 (1913)
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12Nocturne No.12 in E minor, op.107 (1915)
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13Nocturne No.13 in B minor, op.119 (1921)
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14Barcarolle No.1 in A minor, op.26 (?1881)
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15Barcarolle No.2 in G major, op.41 (1885)
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16Barcarolle No.3 in G flat major, op.42 (1885)
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17Barcarolle No.4 in A flat major, op.44 (1886)
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18Barcarolle No.5 in F sharp minor, op.66 (1894)
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19Barcarolle No.6 in E flat major, op.70 (?1895)
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20Barcarolle No.7 in D minor, op.90 (1905)
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21Barcarolle No.8 in D flat major, op.96 (1906)
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22Barcarolle No.9 in A minor, op.101 (1908/09)
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23Barcarolle No.10 in A minor, op.104 no.2 (1913)
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24Barcarolle No.11 in G minor, op.105 (1913)
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25Barcarolle No.12 in E flat major, op.106bis (?1915)
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26Barcarolle No.13 in C major, op.116 (1921)
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27Dolly, op.56 (1894–96): 1. Berceuse (1864, rev. 1893)
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28Dolly, op.56 (1894–96): 2. ‘Messieu Aoul!’ (published as ‘Mi-a-ou’)
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29Dolly, op.56 (1894–96): 3. Le jardin de Dolly
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30Dolly, op.56 (1894–96): 4. Ketty-valse (published as ‘Kitty-valse’)
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31Dolly, op.56 (1894–96): 5. Tendresse
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32Dolly, op.56 (1894–96): 6. Le pas espagnol
Europadisc Review
Although now probably best known for his extensive output of songs as well as his rewarding chamber works, Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) left a substantial body of piano music, including six Impromptus and no fewer than thirteen Nocturnes and thirteen Barcarolles. On his latest release from the Hyperion label, Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin couples the complete Nocturnes and Barcarolles, providing a real feast for the ear.
Hamelin is known for his virtuosity (not least in the works of Alkan), but Fauré’s music requires a different kind of keyboard mastery. Although he was well acquainted with the music of Liszt, Fauré’s training and early career were as an organist, and the way he uses substitute fingering is typical of organ technique, but much less familiar to pianists. He was also ambidextrous, frequently embedding melodies in the middle of a texture that features filigree figuration both above and beneath the main line. However, Fauré had little time for empty showiness, and his piano music, though presenting formidable technical difficulties, has a grace and (in the later works) austerity that belie its challenges.
Both the Nocturnes and the Ballades span almost the whole of Fauré’s compositional career, from the early 1880s to 1921 (the year of the final Nocturne and Barcarolle). Although the Nocturnes are probably the greatest contribution to the genre after Chopin, and the Barcarolles are the most substantial collection in the repertoire, Fauré himself set little store by the titles, which were imposed by his publisher. For him, these were simply piano pieces, and the variety of emotions in the supposedly dreamy world of the Nocturnes is as varied as are the ‘boat songs’ of the Barcarolles.
It will come as no surprise to Hamelin’s many fans that he has the mastery of this music across the board. The early works have all the delicate suppleness and easy melodic facility of Chopin, though also informed by Fauré’s love of Schumann and experience as a pupil of Saint-Saëns. The Nocturne no.1 in E flat minor (which dates from as early as 1875) has premonitions of later turbulence in the restless bass figure that drives its troubled middle section, and Hamelin highlights it perfectly, with pacing and rubato to match. In the equivalent section of Nocturne no.3 in A flat major (1883) the tenor melody has an ease and nobility of tone that is just as impressive.
By the time of the Sixth Nocturne (in D flat major, 1894) the passionate middle-period Fauré is powerfully evident in the irregular phrase lengths and chromaticism, while the glistening semiquavers of the central section are utterly spellbinding, executed with seemingly liquid ease. No less striking is the mysterious world of the Seventh Nocturne (C sharp minor, 1898), with its haunting heartbeat rhythms. Even the Eighth Nocturne of four years later, a mere miniature at barely more than two minutes, makes an impression here with the limpid treble textures of its middle section.
From the modal melody and harmonies of the Ninth Nocturne (1908) with its Pelléas-like outbursts to the increasing intensity, introspection and austerity of the late Nocturnes (nos. 11–13), which straddle the years of the Great War and beyond, Hamelin seems unerringly attuned to Fauré’s highly refined and original late soundworld. The delicacy of touch at the opening of no.11 is uniquely moving, while the opening of no.12 in E minor has a bell-like clarity, and the final Nocturne, in B minor – a cri de cœur for the recently deceased Saint-Saëns, suggests Jessica Duchen in her liner notes – projects all the austere complexity of a late style par excellence, coupled with an overwhelming expressive intensity.
Hamelin traces a similar trajectory in the Barcarolles, among which the delightful treble figuration towards the end of no.3 in G flat major (1885) and the insistent crystalline motifs of no.11 in G minor (1913, an offshoot of Fauré’s opera Pénélope) stand out. Indeed, it is in the group of great Barcarolles (nos. 8–11) that Hamelin is again at his most impressive, whether in the syncopated octaves and whole-tone writing of no.8 (1906), the rocking rhythms of no.9 (1908/09) or the mounting tensions of no.10 (1913). Listening to these performances, it seems quite natural to place Fauré among the most important composers of piano music in the early 20th century – and certainly one of the most powerfully engaging.
On their own, the Nocturnes and Barcarolles make a generous coupling: the extra inclusion of the Dolly suite for piano duet pushes the total timing to over 160 minutes. Here, Hamelin is joined by his wife, Cathy Fuller, who plays the primo (upper) part, while Hamelin plays the more demanding secondo part. It’s an utterly charming way to end the album, capturing a childlike innocence after the intensity of the main programme, and concluding with a zesty account of the suite’s Pas espagnol. With the cover and inlay artwork reproducing Monet’s 1908 painting San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk (1908) to evoke the world of the Barcarolles, and captured by Hyperion in vivid sound, this is a piano double-album not to miss!
Reviews
To an unexpected degree, the pianist needs two entirely independent hands for this music, and hearing Hamelin play Fauré is like observing the workings of a luxury-brand wristwatch with its many interdependent and intricately connected parts working in perfect harmony to produce the movement you see on the clockface. ... This is refined pianism of a high order. Jeremy NicholasGramophone October 2023
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