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Faure - Piano Music

£13.60

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Label: Hyperion

Cat No: CDA67875

Barcode: 0034571178752

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Instrumental

Release Date: 2nd September 2013

Works

Faure, Gabriel

Ballade in F sharp major, op.19
Nocturne no.5 in B flat major, op.37
Nocturne no.6 in D flat major, op.63
Nocturne no.13 in B minor, op.119
Theme and Variations in C sharp minor, op.73
Valse-caprice, op.30
Valse-caprice, op.38

Artists

Angela Hewitt (piano)

Works

Faure, Gabriel

Artists

Angela Hewitt (piano)

About

Angela Hewitt’s recordings of French piano music have received the highest critical acclaim, her ‘tenderness, Gallic wit, verve, and - the most important ingredient of all - charm’ proving perfect for works by Chabrier, Debussy, Ravel and, indeed, Rameau and Couperin.

Now she turns to a composer who is more serious and introspective, with a refinement that has led to him being relatively overlooked by performers. But in Angela Hewitt’s hands this music is an utter joy.

This album includes the major work Thème et variations, Op.73 - one of Faure’s greatest works for piano - and a selection of Valses-caprices and Nocturnes. It ends with a more radiant piece from Fauré’s youth, the earliest piece included on this recording - the Ballade pour piano seul, Op.19, dedicated to Saint-Saëns.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Theme et variations op.73 (Theme)
2

Valse-caprice no.1 in A major, op.30
3

Valse-caprice no.2 in D flat major, op.38
4

Nocturne no.5 in B flat major, op.37
5

Nocturne no.6 in D flat major, op.63
6

Nocturne no.13 in B minor, op.119
7

Ballade pour piano seul, op.19

Europadisc Review

Angela Hewitt has been playing Fauré’s piano music since her mid-teens, so it’s no surprise that – following the success of her other discs of French repertoire – she should choose to record this selection of works that she regards as ‘old friends’. The selection is a generous and well-chosen one, framed by Fauré’s two most substantial pieces for solo piano: the Thème et variations of 1895 and the early Ballade, op.19 (1879), dedicated to his friend and teacher Saint-Saëns. In between are the first two of the four Valses-caprices, opp. 30 and 38, and three Nocturnes representing his youth, maturity and old age (No.13 in B minor is Fauré’s last piece for solo piano).

Fauré’s piano music is still relatively little-known, and often unfairly maligned as little more than trivial salon music but, as Hewitt points out in her engaging and persuasive booklet notes, its technical demands and musical rewards are substantial, featuring a powerful combination of ‘grandeur and refinement’ (J.-M. Nectoux). In the best of this music – the Thème et variations, the second Valse-caprice and the sixth and thirteenth Nocturnes – there’s an almost Proustian combination of clarity, poetry and expressive intensity, as well as a highly individual way with harmonies.

There could hardly be a better advocate for this music than Angela Hewitt. Her playing combines grace, wit, high-spirits, delicacy and power with a quite remarkable degree of clarity, aided by both her restraint with the pedal and the naturally brilliant tone of her Fazioli piano. Berlin’s Jesus-Christus-Kirche proves to be a surprisingly sympathetic acoustic, which also helps.

In the Thème et variations one can hear Fauré’s indebtedness to Schumann’s Études symphoniques and even to Brahms’s piano variations, but the flavour is unmistakably French, and Hewitt beautifully characterises each section, not least the amazing transformation wrought by the final variation with its switch to the major mode.

The abandon of the Valses-caprices is admirably captured, especially the filigree delicacy of No.2 which inhabits a world somewhere between Chopin and Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales. Just as remarkable is the crystalline purity that Hewitt brings to the magically starlit Allegro moderato section of the Nocturne No.6, rightly one of Fauré’s most popular piano pieces: this passage alone is surely enough to convert any sceptics!

The desolation of the B minor Nocturne is handled with marvellous sensitivity, and contrasts vividly with the radiantly youthful Ballade pour piano seul which concludes the recording.

Recording and presentation are well up to Hyperion’s usual high standards, with even the pauses between items perfectly judged. As well as being an ideal introduction to Fauré’s piano output, this disc also rates very highly against the existing competition, making it even more desirable.