![]() ![]() It was not uncommon for Fauré to contribute a single mélodie to the canon in the same span of time. Four songs per annum (as in 18) constitute a decently fruitful crop. There are also, of course, relatively prolific mélodie years: 1873 (six songs), 1878 (eight songs) and 18 (five songs each). His first song was written in 1861 but he composed no songs at all in 1863–64, 1866–69, 1876, 18. In comparison with Schubert’s lieder output (some 700 songs and fragments in fourteen working years) Fauré’s devotion to the medium seems rather less ardent. Closer examination reveals many unproductive patches as late as 1877 Fauré is accusing himself (in a letter to Marianne Viardot) of ‘proverbial laziness’. This is due to the measured pace of an exceptionally long life, and our tendency to take a bird’s-eye view of many years’ work. He left behind an impression of a continuing tradition of song-writing. The pace of his development and self-renewal was never forced on the contrary, as we listen to the music, it now seems a continually evolving process of self-renewal from 1861 to 1924. He never bragged, but he believed in his own talent in that laconic and self-contained way that can be unnerving in certain quiet people. ![]() ![]() Although he had to make his day-to-day living outside composition he was astonishingly consistent in his hard-working persistence. Nevertheless, in retrospect, his progress from the beginning of his career to its end seems to us as sure-footed and steady as a mountain goat. ![]() He hailed from Ariège in the shadow of the Pyrenees, and never cared to master the Parisian networks as well as other aspiring composers he was seldom given to self-promotion. In this respect he was a phlegmatic man of the south (a different ‘south’ to that excitable Auvergnat Chabrier). #LISTENING TO MUSIC MEME AUX PLUS#Florent Schmitt’s verdict is the most comprehensive: ‘Plus profond et plus musicien que Saint-Saëns, plus divers que Lalo, plus spontané que D’Indy, plus classique que Debussy, plus intérieur et plus ému que Chabrier.’ Yet there was much about Fauré that was backward in coming forward he owed a lot of his relatively limited success in French musical politics to the machinations of his mentor Saint-Saëns (a fact he acknowledged) and he probably allowed chance and luck to dictate too many aspects of his life. For Debussy Fauré was the ‘Master of Charms’, a back-handed compliment implying over-abundant facility. Generous commentaries are provided for each song along with the original poems and English translations.įor his contemporary Duparc he was ‘mon délicieux’ his teacher Saint-Saëns called him ‘My Fat Cat’, a surrogate son who basked in the affection of this normally choleric maître. Graham Johnson has employed a veritable panoply of artists-the very finest interpreters of French song that could be found. #LISTENING TO MUSIC MEME AUX SERIES#The songs are performed in the order of their composition (this rationale of chronology within a general theme will be applied across the other volumes of the series to make up four self-contained and individually satisfying recitals), and alongside several perfect miniatures we here encounter three of the major cycles: the five ‘Venetian’ songs (to the poetry of Paul Verlaine), L’horizon chimérique, and Mirages, written for Madeleine Grey in thanks for her advocacy of the cycle La chanson d’Ève. This first disc takes its title, Au bord de l’eau, from the famous song which became Fauré’s calling-card, and presents a generous programme of mélodies of an aquatic nature. Hyperion’s record of the month for January sees the launch of an exciting new series: the complete mélodies of Gabriel Fauré will be released over four discs during 2005. ![]()
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