Customer Reviews

Fauré: Orchestral Works

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Gabriel Faure was a master of small orchestral forms, as this disc superbly demonstrates. I have had this CD for several years and continue to enjoy the marvelous playing by the BBC Philharmonic with their then conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier.

The disc begins with Faure's final orchestra work Masques et bergamasques (1919) which is a four movement suite evocative of French pastoral paintings. The Overture is fleeting and energetic ballet number while the Menuet is a slow and stately dance. The Gavotte returns to the spirited dance rhythms of the Overture and the Pastourale is sweetly reminiscent of a summer day in the country.

The Ballade for Piano and Orchestra comes from 1879 and is like Faure's Nocturnes in mood. The music begins with a reflective melody and slowly builds in tempo to a dance-like melody becoming more and more tranquil and finally fading away. The Pavane is a famous piece, slightly melancholy but with elegance and beautifully composed. The Prelude to Penelope, Faure's only opera, is a good piece of dramatic music writing that sets the scene for what is to follow: the return of Ulysses to his homeland after 20 years absence.

The Fantasie for Flute and Orchestra was written as a competition piece but is certainly more than just an exercise. Although under five minutes the piece is in two movements and beautifully demonstrates the range and abilities of the flute. The work recorded here is an orchestration made in 1957 for Jean-Pierre Rampal. The Eligie for Cello is an orchestration of the original for cello and piano that dates to 1880. It is a reflective and sad piece that was used during Faure's own state funeral. The Dolly suite is an orchestration of a piano suite that Faure originally wrote for Dolly Bardac, the daughter of the singer Emma Bardac. It is interesting that French composers wrote so much music directed toward children; Jeu d' enfant and the Children's Corner come immediately to mind. Faure's contribution is in six movements beginning, appropriately, with a Berceuse and continuing with Mi-a-ou (based on Dolly's nickname). The Jardin de Dolly that comes next describes a garden of the imagination followed by Kitty-Valse (which actually describes Dolly's dog Ketty). The suite concludes with the beautiful and passionate Tendresse and Le pas Espanol, which describes an equestrian statuette that was Dolly's favorite.

The recording is beautifully produced and the only problem is that the tracked are not listed in the correct order on the booklet with Penelope actually in seventh position followed by the Fantaisie.

I must thank the Rough Guide or I would never have tried the excellently conducted by the French conductor Tortelier containing orchestral music of Gabriel Faure. Is begins with Masques Et Bergamasques which is a ballet inspired by a painting by Watteau. It is marked with nostalgia best in the final section l pastorale.. The Ballade is an orchestrated piano work that makes evokative use of the winds is quite beautiful. The Pavane is quite elegantly composed. The prelude to the opera Penelope is filled with appropriate sense of dread, .The fantasie for flute and orchestra was my personal favorite thing on this CD very well played with Richard Davis on flute brought tears to my eyes. The Elegie for cello and orchestra is also very movingly played by Peter Dixon was also used in Faure's state funeral. The Dolly Suite written as a piano duet dedicated to the young daughter of a singer named Dolly is quite sweet in le jardin de Dolly.

Please excuse any typos I have a neurologic disease.

Chandos es un sello muy exquisito en buscar repertorio que comercialmente no se suele escuchar pero que nos muestra el trabajo de grandes compositores - olvidados algunos - y sobre todo que se esmera en presentar interpretaciones de gran calidad como esta versión de obras inmortales del compositor francès Gabriel Faurè (1845-1924)que ha pasado a la historia musical con una pieza muy popular como es la Pavane Op. 50 que ha sido tocada con infinidad de arreglos instrumentales y que tiene una belleza melódica muy particular.

Oimos bajo la batuta del gran Yan Pascal Tortelier en primer lugar "Masques et bergamasques", obra muy cuidada estilisticamente.

La Ballade for piano and orchestra, Op. 19 es realmente bellìsima de un Romanticismo muy hermoso. Magnífica interpretación de la pianista Kathryn Stott.

Muy profunda y con gran influencia wagneriana apreciamos tambièn el Prelude to Penelope.

Podemos apreciar además una versión muy interesante de la Fantaisie for flute, op. 79, original para flauta y piano, pero que aquí lo tenemos en una versión acompañada por orquesta. El flautista Richard Davis es realmente impactante en su interpretación pulcrísima y hermoso sonido.

El cellista Peter Dixon nos ofrece una hermosa interpretación también de la Elegie para cello y orquesta, op. 24, obra profunda e introspectiva.

El cd termina con una version orquestal de Dolly Suite, op.56 bellamente lograda por el sonido fantástico de la BBC Philharmonic.