Award-winning conductor Kazuki Yamada leads Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in an all French program of highly melodious music. Most recently Kazuki Yamada was the winner at the 51st Besancon International Competition for young conductors in 2009, receiving the audience award as well as the Grand Prize.

Thirteen Nocturnes and as many Barcarolles form the core of the collected output of Gabriel Urbain Fauré for the piano. Night-time meditations, then, along with inspiration drawn from rippling water (the origins of the barcarolle lie in the songs sung by Venetian gondoliers and the word itself comes from the Italian ‘barca’, a boat.) Along with some impromptus, préludes and other works, one might rapidly gain the impression of a delightful collection of salon music, whose titles may actually display the influence of Chopin. But this music is so very much more than pretty salon music. In the intimacy of these genres, Faure succeeded time and again in nothing short of exposing his very soul. And the French composer’s style is entirely his own-original and personal - from the first note to the last.

Hannes Minnaar received international acclaim after winning several international competitions and being awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. This re-release of his 2016 deluxe album package omits the original companion DVD.

Reviews:

‘Minnaar’s identification with this unique realm of music is complete and his deeply felt interpretations shine with clarity and infinite nuance.’ -Gramophone

‘One very exhilarating recording. Hannes Minnaar’s playing is not only sensitive but also lyrical und sometimes dreamy. With a wide spectrum in sound shades, much refinement and a continuous flow the Dutch pianist’s performances are absolutely fascinating.’ -Pizzicato

‘Minnaar consistently avoids the kitsch trap. He takes this music seriously and immerses it in different moods: a darkly flowing river, then a pointillistic sequence of small effects, then again a radiant melody over a moving underground. -Deutschlandfunk

-‘The delicate poetic qualities of Fauré’s piano pieces requires the most sensitive of touches from the pianist tackling them, and it’s clear that Hannes Minnaar is comfortably a master of the idiom.’ -CD Choice UK

‘The crystal-clear, free-flowing performance fits Fauré’s reserved luminous notes perfectly. It’s amazing how he transforms the nocturnes into musing monologues, or how he consecrates the preludes with mild severity.’ -De Standaard

...Rutter distils even more drama from dynamic contrasts than Dutoit, the balance between voices and instruments in his performance sounds natural, not carefully achieved, his boyish-sounding sopranos (above all the touchingly ethereal Caroline Ashton in the Pie Jesu) seem as incontrovertibly right for the colour of this work as the solitary, silvery violin that the Rutter edition employs in the Sanctus... [F]or truth to Faure's luminous conception Rutter's version is still unapproached, and it still heads my list.

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [1/1989]

 Gabriel Fauré Centenary (1845 - 1924)

A collection of his solo piano, chamber music, and vocal works, most prominent among them the composer's favored Requiem.

This is the final volume in the acclaimed series with Malcolm Martineau, charting the complete songs of French composer Gabriel Fauré and performed by a selection of the world’s finest singers. This series follows Martineau’s heralded 5-album series of The Complete Songs of Francis Poulenc. Malcolm Martineau was born in Edinburgh, read Music at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge and studied at the Royal College of Music. Recognised as one of the leading accompanists of his generation, he has worked with many of the world’s greatest singers including Sir Thomas Allen, Dame Janet Baker, Olaf Bar, Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Angela Gheorghiu, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Della Jones, Simon Keenlyside, Angelika Kirchschlager, Magdalena Kozena, Solveig Kringelborn, Jonathan Lemalu, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, Karita Mattila, Lisa Milne, Ann Murray, Anna Netrebko, Anne Sofie von Otter, Joan Rodgers, Amanda Roocroft, Michael Schade, Frederica von Stade, Sarah Walker and Bryn Terfel. He was a given an honorary doctorate at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2004, and appointed International Fellow of Accompaniment in 2009. Malcolm was the Artistic Director of the 2011 Leeds Lieder+ Festival. Includes full lyrics with English translations.

Bridging the end of Romanticism and the beginnings of Modernism, Gabriel Fauré is considered to be one of the most important French composers of the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. His music is a testament to the seismic changes that he lived through, undoubtedly reflected in his distinctive writing. This collection of Fauré’s works for violin and piano are performed on period instruments: an 1890s Érard piano and a violin by Guaneri, recreating the composer’s sound world. Duo Jane Gordon (violin) and Jan Rautio (piano) here celebrate their significant milestone of two decades of musical partnership, having collaborated together on hundreds of artistic projects.

Established in Rome in 2016, the Quartetto Werther has already carried off several prizes at chamber-music competitions in its native Italy, and its members have been winners of several competitions for young musicians such as the Premio Geminiani awarded in 2019 to violinist Martina Santarone. As an ensemble they have studied with the Trio di Parma and the Cuarteto Casals, among others. With this release, their debut commercial recording, the Quartetto Werther has produced finely calibrated, beautifully engineered versions of the two piano quartets which make an ideal introduction to the voice of Gabriel Fauré in the realm of chamber music. The romantic, passionate melodies of the Op.15 celebrated Quartet in C minor are enclosed within relatively strict classical forms, with a songlike Adagio at its expressive heart. The Op.45 Quartet in G minor – something of a signature work for the Quartetto Werther – demonstrates a much bolder departure from the Classical tradition in terms of both structure and harmony. Some of its most striking moments include a mercurial Scherzo and a languorous Adagio. Despite the association of both keys with tragic and heroic forces – in the Fifth symphonies of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, for example – Fauré always balances intensity of feeling with a concern for elegance and formal lucidity. As he remarked to his fellow composer Florent Schmitt: ‘To express that which is within you with sincerity, in the clearest and most perfect manner, would seem to me the ultimate goal of art.’ When placed side by side in the Quartetto Werther’s deeply sympathetic interpretations, it is difficult to understand why the superbly crafted and melodically generous Second Quartet has never managed to achieve the popularity of the First, but their recording should win it many new friends.

This recital reveals Leontyne Price as a natural interpreter of both Lieder and melodies - her refusal to indulge herself through slow speeds and self-regarding gestures consistently takes her to the heart of the matter.

This disc provides a treasurable pendant to RCA's comprehensive reissue of Price's opera recitals (12/92). The singer's debut recording, made in the Town Hall, New York in January 1959, reveals her as a natural interpreter of both Lieder and melodies so much so that one must regret that she didn't devote more time to pursuing a career in this field. Where she scores so easily over many of her American successors is in her refusal to indulge herself through slow speeds and self-regarding gestures: she sings the songs for what they are and with scrupulous attention to text and (mostly) dynamics, no more, no less, and thereby usually goes to the heart of the matter. Nowhere is that truer than in her Faure: each of the five performances here is a delight, not only for the full tone, though lighter than it was to become, but also for the sensuously moulded line and the patent sincerity of the readings, entirely free of artifice. Perhaps Au cimetiere is the finest of the set, with the resignation sadly expressed and the single climax achieved—of course—with a thrilling ease. Price's Poulenc is equally welcome with special praise for ''Tu vois le feu du soir'' (the second of the Miroirs brulants). Few non-French singers have in my experience come so close to the soul of this plangent piece. Not all the French vowels are correctly sounded but for once that seems hardly to matter.

Similarly, her German accent sometimes slips but that can be overlooked when, for instance, the mood of Strauss's Allerseelen is so unerringly caught, the phrasing expansive yet never cloying. That makes a somewhat cool account of Freund-liche Vision a surprising disappointment made up for by the uninhibited passion and generous tone accorded Wolf's Lebe wohl, which usually has to manage with less gorgeous voices. The same goes for Geh', Geliebter, geh' jetz. It's no exaggeration to say that this matches the eagerness and generosity of Rethberg's famous version in HMV's old Hugo Wolf Society recording (2/35—nla). Here, too, David Garvey confirms earlier impressions that he is worthy partner for his distinguished singer.

The recording is a shade confined but honest. The disc is enhanced by Irving Kolodin's perceptive notes and the inclusion of texts and translations. The short measure is hardly of consequence when the content is so desirable. The many addicts of Price's voice will surely want this addition to her British discography, but so will many who love this repertory.

-- Alan Blyth, Gramophone [5/1993]

Selections recorded July and November, 1993.

In French music, Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) forms a link between Romanticism and modernism: in Paris in the year of his birth, Chopin was still composing, and by the time of his death, jazz was all the rage, while Stravinsky was championing neoclassicism. This present recording contains all of Faure's music for cello and piano, including the much-loved Elegie and Sicilienne - pieces that are sometimes described as ''salon music'', with qualities that caused Debussy to dub the composer ''the master of charms''. But interspersed with this lighter fare are also the two sonatas from Faure's later period when, suffering from increasing deafness, he developed a more pared-down style. Even though the sonatas came into being only a few years a part they are nevertheless quite different - appearing in 1917, Sonata No. 1 in D minor is very much a wartime work, at times almost violent. The G minor Sonata is altogether more accessible, with a vivacious finale that caused the composer Vincent d'Indy to remark to the 78-year old Faure: ''How lucky you are to stay young like that!''

If a chamber music ensemble can stand together in the same lineup for 25 years, it must be doing something right. The Faure Quartett can be assumed to be doing so: As one of the world's leading piano quartets, the four musicians are at the zenith of chamber music, touring the world's most important venues and breaking down musical boundaries with their recordings. Their Pop Songs album was followed by Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Rachmaninov’s etudes-Tableaux in 2018, which have never been heard so rousingly before. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its foundation, the quartet turns its attention to a composer who is at the same time both long overdue and right now perfectly fit to be recorded properly: Gabriel Faure. The Faure Quartet has fond memories of these phases of self-exploration and laying the foundations of a piece. The quartet was able to afford the luxury of independent maturity and managed to transform the apparent shortcoming of such a fixed instrumentation into a quality. It is not a trio that treats itself to a pianist, neither is it a string quartet that gives one violin a temporary leave of absence, and nor is it a piano soloist who enhances inherent keyboard timbres by augmenting these with a few extra string players. It remains an ensemble that takes itself seriously in its particularity and benefits from the qualities of four characters who can stand up to each other even over long stretches of time. And it is a team that does not see itself as too superior not to practice the same thing over and over again until a point is reached at which an invisible boundary is crossed, one that leads from mere interpretation to actual embodiment.

This recital could almost have been entitled Around Fauré in Sixty Minutes, as the programme devised by Nicolas Stavy spans the entire career of the composer. In April 1863, when Gabriel Fauré noted down the Sonata recorded here for the first time, his 18th birthday was still a month away – the masterly Nocturne in B minor Op. 119, on the other hand, is Fauré’s final work for the piano, composed only two years before his death in 1924. Between them, and the other works included on the album, a fascinating trajectory takes shape. In the Finale of the sonata we hear a young man enjoying himself as he experiments with a Haydnesque idiom; a few years later there are traces of Mendelssohn and Schumann in 3 Romances, and of Chopin in Mazurke – also a world première recording. Especially when it comes to the choice of genre, Chopin is still an influence during the 1870s and Nocturne No. 1 and the Ballade, but both works testify to a composer finding his own voice. Fauré went on to compose another 12 nocturnes and two of these, No. 6 in D flat major from 1894 and the aforementioned Nocturne in B minor, serve as snapshots illustrating Fauré's later career and the composer's path towards increasing abstraction and a style characterised by timelessness and a detachment from fashionable trends.

Fauré was a reserved, self-effacing man particularly drawn by the intimacy of chamber music. Deeply attached to the romanticism of an earlier age, he is considered the last of the romantics. Debussy described him as a ‘maître de charme’, an epithet that still rings true. During the First World War Fauré remained in Paris as head of the Conservatoire, and despite its external turmoil, this period (lasting for him until 1921, the year of the Second Cello Sonata) was the most productive of his life. His compositions of this period are notable for their force and even violence from a composer who is usually renowned for his delicacy and restraint. In fact the first movement of the First Cello Sonata is among Fauré’s most angular and assertive pieces. The Second Sonata shares a flowing, elusive quality with much of his late music, but it falls on the ear with almost deceptive ease: ‘How lucky you are to stay young like that!’, remarked Vincent d’Indy to the 78-year-old composer when he first heard the sonata’s effervescent finale. Fauré himself remarked with typical understatement that ‘Music consists in raising us as far as possible above what is. I carry within me a certain desire for things that do not exist.’ There is a sense in which these late cello works speak in a Romantic language which the composer already knew was dead – and yet every note within them is uniquely his own, averse to tragic declamation yet unwilling to shake off a melancholy spirit of reflection.

The four works that this album brings together are among the most beautiful of the French repertoire for violin. In the last decades of the 19th century, a new kind of music emerged in France that revisited French culture and tradition. For until then, the German classics and romantics had dominated the concert halls of France. Works by French composers were rarely performed. Saint-Saëns recalled in retrospect, "It was not long ago [...] when [...] the name of a French composer, a living one at that, was enough to scare the whole world away." The lost Franco-Prussian War of 1870 was the impetus for a new orientation. Now the "Grande Nation" had to prove itself anew and find a new self-image. People looked back to their own traditions and wanted to revive French music. To this end, several composers founded the "Société nationale de musique". Among the founding members were Camille Saint-Saëns, César Franck and Gabriel Fauré. Under the motto "Ars gallica," this society was to promote and disseminate French music. It was to be music that combined German profundity with French charm and esprit.