Faure Chamber Music

Chamber music might well contain the quintessence of Gabriel Fauré’s art, in particular the extremely refined late masterpieces that can be placed at the pinnacle of French instrumental music for their amazing harmonic research. From these great cycles to early popular works like the Berceuse or the Élégie, this collection enraptures the unique magic of Fauré’s music. Featured artists include Christian Ferras, Jacqueline du Pré, Gautier & Renaud Capuçon, Jean Hubeau, Michel Debost, the Quatuor Ébène.

Chamber music might well contain the quintessence of Gabriel Fauré’s art, in particular the extremely refined late masterpieces that can be placed at the pinnacle of French instrumental music for their amazing harmonic research. From these great cycles to early popular works like the Berceuse or the Élégie, this collection enraptures the unique magic of Fauré’s music. Featured artists include Christian Ferras, Jacqueline du Pré, Gautier & Renaud Capuçon, Jean Hubeau, Michel Debost, the Quatuor Ébène.

By today's standards, there's nothing particularly jarring or seemingly progressive about the mature works of Gabriel Fauré. In his own time, however, he was often criticized for his curious, almost experimental use of harmony in his chamber music, and for what some saw as his neglect of the individual qualities of the instruments for which he was composing. Some of these sentiments have endured and resulted in the infrequent performance of many of his chamber works, in this case the two sonatas for cello and piano. While the cello "miniatures," such as the Op. 24 Elegie and the Op. 7 Apre un Reve (transcribed by Casals), have enjoyed popularity particularly in high school and early college studios, they are not representative of Fauré's developed harmonic language.

This collection of chamber works by French female composers helps to consolidate our understanding of how important these musicians were to French culture during the period 1860-1960. Some of these names will be more familiar to the public than others, Germaine Tailleferre being perhaps the best known, mostly for her membership of Les Six. Others ought to be far more renowned than they are now.

Fragoso’s music, influenced by Fauré and Debussy, shows a strong individual voice, intimate, lyrical and original. His complete output of chamber music is represented on this recording. Performed by excellent Portuguese soloists. New recording, world premieres! The death of António Fragoso (1897–1918) at the age of 21 robbed the Iberian Peninsula of a composer of great potential, the second within a century, following the Spaniard Juan Arriaga who died at the age of 20 in 1826, having displayed extraordinary promise.

The music of Théodore Dubois (1837–1924) has rather been overshadowed by that of other French composers of the same period, not least Fauré and Saint-Saëns. But Dubois does not deserve his relative neglect: not only was he a superlative craftsman, but he could also unfold a fetching melody and had a strong sense of musical narrative. This recital of chamber works for oboe and strings is noteworthy for a further quality, one often underestimated: much of the music is, quite simply, charming.

It may be a cliché to write of the clarity of Gallic writing for the flute – the kind of elegance found in the music of composers like Debussy, Fauré, Gaubert, Jolivet, Messiaen and Taffanel – but French music for flute does indeed have a sound of its own. The flute works of Nicolas Bacri, born in Paris in 1961, uphold the proud tradition of his predecessors with textures of crystalline transparency and poised, almost weightless, melodic lines – and reserves of sardonic bite and freewheeling energy as required.

It may be a cliché to write of the clarity of Gallic writing for the flute – the kind of elegance found in the music of composers like Debussy, Fauré, Gaubert, Jolivet, Messiaen and Taffanel – but French music for flute does indeed have a sound of its own. The flute works of Nicolas Bacri, born in Paris in 1961, uphold the proud tradition of his predecessors with textures of crystalline transparency and poised, almost weightless, melodic lines – and reserves of sardonic bite and freewheeling energy as required.

Virgin Classics assembled an all-star team of chamber musicians to put together this five-disc set of Gabriel Fauré's complete music for strings and piano. Only the String Quartet, Op. 121, by the Quatuor Ebène, was previously released. Fauré's chamber music - with the exception of a couple of short works for cello and piano - isn't as well known outside of France as that of Debussy and Ravel, although the two piano quartets are widely admired.