Hamelin Fauré

The Nocturnes and Barcarolles demonstrate Fauré’s art at its most personal, progressing from early lyricism to the elusive, rarefied style of the later works. Marc-André Hamelin’s performances are predictably fine, and combine exceptional subtlety with magisterial keyboard authority.

The Nocturnes and Barcarolles demonstrate Fauré’s art at its most personal, progressing from early lyricism to the elusive, rarefied style of the later works. Marc-André Hamelin’s performances are predictably fine, and combine exceptional subtlety with magisterial keyboard authority.

Fête Galante, a 1999 release featuring soprano Karina Gauvin and pianist Marc-André Hamelin, won numerous awards, and the outstanding performances on this 2011 reissue confirm how well-deserved those honors were. Gauvin has an exceptional voice – clarion-bright, warm, confident, and agile, with a variegated palette of colors – and her effortlessly incisive interpretive skills give depth and life to everything she sings. The distinctiveness and character she brings to these songs show a terrific grasp of the genre of the mélodie, from the late 19th century songs by Fauré and the young Debussy to the mid-20th works by Poulenc, Honegger, and Émile Vuillermoz.