Customer Reviews

Faure - Pelléas et Mélisande ~ Dolly ~ Après un rêve ~ Pavane ~ Elégie / Hunt, BSO, Ozawa

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The composer, pianist and organist Gabriel Urbain Fauré (b 1845 -d1924) was, perhaps, the first French composer of his contemporaries, and his musical élan charmed many Twentieth Century composers. His sympathetic and pleasing melodic language impacted the methods of structuring and teaching music with respect to the composition and progression of chords - a combination of three or more notes that blend harmoniously when sounded together.

At the end of his life he had severe hearing impairment, that rendered him deaf.

His childhood was spent with a foster-nurse, and then at nine, he studied for some eleven years the organ and choir as part of religious ceremony.

Faure was lucky to have had the opportunity to follow his courses with several outstanding French contemporary musicians, like Camille Saint-Saëns, who introduced him to the music of several celebrity composers, including Franz Liszt and Robert Schuman. Later on he travelled to Weimar where he also met Liszt and Cologne to see Richard Wagner's production: the Ring.

In this recording we have: Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80, Après un rêve, Op. 7, Pavane, Op. 50, Élégie, Op. 24, and Dolly, Op. 56, 6-pieces Suite for piano at 4 hands -"Berceuse", "Mi-a-ou", "Le Jardin de Dolly", "Kitty-Valse", "Tendresse", "Le Pas Espagnol" -. Composed between 1893 and 1912 -

Faure's music during this period transfuses a cauldron of love and agony, personal grief may have influenced his composition but enriched the world's musical repertoire.

Dolly suite is lovely, initially composed for piano duet in 1893-97 dedicated to Miss Helene Bardac - dolly - to whose mother Emma (later Debussy's second wife) Faure was greatly affectionate at the time.

Listen to it and enjoy.....

Gabriel Faure really wrote such beautiful music. It doesn't challenge you at all. It's just one gorgeous melody after the other. He was quite unique in the way he combined his melodies with harmony. Faure, like Saint-Saens (his teacher), was a gifted melody writer. I even recall humming a Faure melody for a month at one point! Anyway, he composed melodic, tuneful music that should appeal to fans of all classical music. Another one of his claims to fame was he was Maurice Ravel's teacher. You can hear the influence of Faure in Ravel's harmonic language.

On this recording, one of the best Faure collections I've heard, Ozawa leads you through the calm gentle waves of Faure's music. Like I said, this music does not challenge you, if you're looking for something that is aggressive, then you will have to look elsewhere. The Boston Symphony Orchestra play wonderfully throughout and only demonstrating yet again while they're one of the top orchestras in the United States.

There is very little to find wrong here and the audio quality is really good. A winning Faure disc. Highly recommended.

Other Faure recordings to checkout:

Fauré: Requiem, Op. 48; Pelléas et Mélisande, Suite, Op. 80; Pavane, Op. 50
Faure Requiem Op.48 / Durufle Requiem Op.9
Fauré: Orchestra Works
Faure: Pelleas et Melisande; Masques Et Bergamasques (Incidental Music)

This CD contains selections that are both characteristic of his style and very melodic and lyrical. A good choice to get a comprehensive overview of this wonderful composer's work. Beautifully played and sung as well.

Yes, the playing is lovely, such as it is. But the main thing I was looking for was the piano duet in the Dolly Suite, which is after all music for four hands... not an orchestra. So I should have been more careful. To me it is also played way too fast. Can't recommend this.