Fauré - Complete Chamber Music for Strings and Piano
Renaud Capuçon; Gautier Capuçon; Gerard Caussé; Michel Dalberto; Quatuor Ebène
Virgin Classics 5099907087523
The composer Aaron Copland once remarked that the music of Gabriel Fauré possessed all the earmarks of the French temperament: harmonic sensitivity, impeccable taste, classic restraint and a love of clear lines and well-made proportions. These qualities are no more evident than in Fauré’s chamber music for piano and strings, now presented in its entirety in this attractive five-disc box set on the Virgin Classics label. Is French music best interpreted by French musicians? That question is certainly open to debate, but in this case, it doesn’t hurt that most of those taking part in this recording are top-rated French artists, including violinist Renaud Capuçon, violist Gerard Caussé, cellist Gautier Capuçon, pianist Michel Dalberto joined by the Ebène Quartet and the American pianist Nicholas Angelich. Everything is included here: the pairs of violin and cello sonatas, the two piano quartets and quintets, the piano trio, as well as the sole string quartet.
The extensive notes rightly point out that Fauré’s chamber music was composed over the course of his lifetime, from the first of the two violin sonatas and the first piano quartet written when he was 30, to the second piano quintet and the Piano Trio in D Minor completed over 40 years later, when deafness and advancing age obviously weren’t hindering his creativity. The result is a wonderful sense of progression and development spanning a 45 year period. The Violin Sonata No.1, for example, contains all the optimism and freshness of a youthful composer, the quirky rhythms and modulations adeptly handled by Renaud Capuçon and Michel Dalberto. On the other hand, the Piano Quintet No.2 Op.115, completed in 1921, is dark and impassioned, surely the music of a composer resigned to the frailties of old age; one refusing to abandon his own musical idiom in favour of more modern trends. The performance here by Andelich and the Ebène Quartet is boldly assured, imbued with a deeply-rooted sensitivity to the demands of the music.
One of the most intriguing pieces in this collection is the String Quartet in E Minor, the only one Fauré ever wrote and the last of his works to be completed. It was written only at the request of several colleagues, including his pupil Ravel, and even then Fauré did not fully embrace the project. The end result is an angular piece that has a decidedly atmospheric quality to it – a haunting swan-song concluding a lifetime devoted to music.
An added bonus in this set is the inclusion of musical miniatures for which Fauré is justifiably famous, pieces such as the Élégie, Sicilienne and Romance. And as if great music superbly performed wasn’t enough, the attractive packaging - involving “Belle Époch” graphics and typeface on the covers - serves to further enhance this most appealing collection which will surely become a mainstay in the catalogue.
