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Faure - Chamber Music

£13.88

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Label: Chandos

Cat No: CHAN10447

Barcode: 0095115144725

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 2nd January 2008

Works

Faure, Gabriel

Cello Sonata no.1 in D minor, op.109
Cello Sonata no.2 in G minor, op.117
Nocturne no.13 in B minor, op.119
Piano Trio in D minor, op.120

Artists

Kathryn Stott (piano)
Christian Poltera (cello)
Priya Mitchell (violin)

Works

Faure, Gabriel

Cello Sonata no.1 in D minor, op.109
Cello Sonata no.2 in G minor, op.117
Nocturne no.13 in B minor, op.119
Piano Trio in D minor, op.120

Artists

Kathryn Stott (piano)
Christian Poltera (cello)
Priya Mitchell (violin)

About

Fauré wrote this group of works near the end of his life, when he was suffering from increasing deafness and an acute condition which made listening to music agonising. It is extraordinary that he did not just abandon composition, but he said, ‘If I can’t work any longer, then what am I doing here?’ So Fauré gathered his force and produced some of the most deeply reflective and beautiful of all his works.

The Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 109 is a fascinating and unsettling product of those dark days of the First World War. Fauré’s youngest son was in the army and it is not hard to hear something of his father’s anxiety in the sonata.

The Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 117 was written between March and November 1921 and this happier time is reflected in more contented music. Fauré’s friend, Vincent d’Indy, spoke for many when he complimented his fellow composer on the sheer ‘youthfulness’ of this music: ‘plus the mastery of maturity. And it’s so beautiful!’

These works are here joined by Nocturne No. 13 in B minor, Op. 119, completed after the death of Fauré’s closest friend, Camille Saint-Saëns. It was Fauré’s last solo piano work and completed the second of two great work cycles, the Barcarolles and Nocturnes, which between them chart the course of Fauré’s composing life and contain some of the composer’s most intimate thoughts. The Thirteenth Nocturne is as well the summation of the two sets. ‘Its grip is so powerful’, wrote the great French pianist Yvonne Lefébure, ‘that there is no place for rational explanation…, it is the only example of a work in which not a single note could be changed or removed’.

Completing the disc is the Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120, which despite its moments of drama unfolds with an easy-flowing serenity.

Kathryn Stott has received outstanding reviews for her recordings on Chandos and is best known for her performances of French music. BBC Music Magazine recently wrote, ‘Kathryn Stott reinforces her position as one of the finest Fauré interpreters of her generation’. She has also been behind several major festivals and concert series. For her involvement in ‘Fauré and the French Connection’ she was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government.

She is joined on this recording by the Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra who won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust in 2004, and was also a BBC New Generation Artist, and by the violinist Priya Mitchell, both here making their Chandos debut. These artists collaborate regularly in chamber music performances across the world.

This is the only available collection of these late chamber works.