Gabriel Fauré (Faure)

[Mandryka]

I bought this after your previous recommendation and I tend to agree with it. 

I was just so moved by the melancholy in the preludes this morning.

[ritter]

Now that is interesting.  Has Promethée been previously recorded, or is it new for this collection (I wonder)?  ...

Promethée has indeed been recorded before:

First listen (finally!) to Gabriel Fauré's "other" opera, Promethée. In this live recording under Desiré Dondeyne from Toulouse in 1992. A semi-private release that landed today.


This is more a scenic cantata than an opera as such, with an orchestration for winds only (as far as I can hear),  choruses galore, and spoken passages. All very solemn and majestic, but also rather bombastic and slightly out of tune (as is often the case with wind bands).

Pierre Boulez once said the Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex was like a Greek temple made of plastic. Well, this Promethée seems made of Daum crystal.
...

I am almost certain the premieropera.net release I was listening to (the cover no longer appears in my post, although it did appear when I posted four years ago) is an (unauthorised?) reissue of this:



I do not know what recording is being used in the new Warner set (it is marked "live" in Amazon's amateurish reproduction of the track list), but the name of Désiré Dondeyne is not listed in any online reference to the Warner set, and does not appear on the set's side cover, which lists the artists.

[Le Buisson Ardent]

I think it's safe to assume that "Complete Works" should be a misnomer that is if anything ambiguous and, more often than not, a complete fabrication from the record label.

[kyjo]

I've almost finished making my way through this superb set:



This has been my first time taking a "deep dive" into Fauré's solo piano music, and what a rewarding journey it has been! Debargue presents the works in chronological order, from the Trois romances sans paroles (1863) to the Nocturne No. 13 in B minor (1921). This is extremely illuminating in charting Fauré's development from the delightfully innocent, melodically generous Romanticism of the earlier works to the dark, harmonically complex, sometimes cryptic language of the later works. In addition to the pivotal sets of 13 Nocturnes and 13 Barcarolles, there are also 5 Impromptus, 4 Valse-caprices, a Mazurka in Bb, the Ballade in F# (in its solo piano version), the Theme and Variations in C# minor, the Eight Short Pieces, and the Nine Preludes. I particularly admire how Debargue brings out the often dark and passionate undercurrents of these works, instead of playing them in a predominantly gentle, dreamy way as I've heard some do (but he's certainly delicate where appropriate). I'd say this set is essential listening for both Fauré fans as well as those who haven't quite grasped his music yet. This is a really rich and seminal body of work that demands your time and attention!

[Leo K.]

I've almost finished making my way through this superb set:



This has been my first time taking a "deep dive" into Fauré's solo piano music, and what a rewarding journey it has been! Debargue presents the works in chronological order, from the Trois romances sans paroles (1863) to the Nocturne No. 13 in B minor (1921). This is extremely illuminating in charting Fauré's development from the delightfully innocent, melodically generous Romanticism of the earlier works to the dark, harmonically complex, sometimes cryptic language of the later works. In addition to the pivotal sets of 13 Nocturnes and 13 Barcarolles, there are also 5 Impromptus, 4 Valse-caprices, a Mazurka in Bb, the Ballade in F# (in its solo piano version), the Theme and Variations in C# minor, the Eight Short Pieces, and the Nine Preludes. I particularly admire how Debargue brings out the often dark and passionate undercurrents of these works, instead of playing them in a predominantly gentle, dreamy way as I've heard some do (but he's certainly delicate where appropriate). I'd say this set is essential listening for both Fauré fans as well as those who haven't quite grasped his music yet. This is a really rich and seminal body of work that demands your time and attention!

I am loving this set, enraptured by this music. I am just listening to Faure this year for the first time.

[Madiel]

While I'm currently listening on earphones, my immediate reaction to Debargue is that there's something about the piano and/or the recording of it that I dislike a bit. It feels a little distant and underpowered.

Edit: given the commentary in the booklet about how special and unique this piano is, it might well be my problem is with the piano.

My impressions of the playing from the very limited sample of the op.17 Romances is positive. I will keep going and see if my ear adjusts.

[Madiel]

As I keep going through the set, I find myself in some agreement with the Gramophone review I just read: in certain places Debargue is a little too fast and fleet and you can't quite hear all the harmonic richness as a result.

The 1st impromptu and the 1st valse-caprice both had a bit of this. It's not terrible, but I do wish for a bit more breathing room in some places.

It's unusual for a pianist to maybe be a bit TOO dynamic in this music, but that's my feeling occasionally.

[Mandryka]

Sally Pinkas, Nocturnes. Interesting lecture CD in this set - seems to me like pretty good performances on the nocturnes themselves.

[Madiel]

According to JPC, to be released on October 25th:

Gabriel Fauré - The Complete Works



And it includes Promethée, so it does seem to be his complete compositions.

Does anyone know whether some website has ended up with a proper track/disc listing of this that shows what's there and who is playing it?

JPC is partway there with a list of tracks (edit: and Amazon too), but not attached to artists. Warner's own website is utterly useless. So, surprisingly, is Presto Music.

EDIT: Warner looks to have released a substantial amount of it in digital albums, where it's possible to find the artists. But of course not all of it, and sometimes quite scrambled.

[DaveF]

Does anyone know whether some website has ended up with a proper track/disc listing of this that shows what's there and who is playing it?

Not a track-by-track listing, but there is substantial description of who plays what in the text of the review:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/faure-the-complete-works-erato/

[Madiel]

Not a track-by-track listing, but there is substantial description of who plays what in the text of the review:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/faure-the-complete-works-erato/

Thank you, this helps immensely. Including helping to explain why certain things didn't make the digital version of the piano release for example. Licensing!

[71 dB]

Not a track-by-track listing, but there is substantial description of who plays what in the text of the review:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/11/faure-the-complete-works-erato/

26 CDs and 45 hours? Doesn't compute. That's over 100 minutes per disc, but CDs can't store even 90 minutes of music (86 minutes starts to be the absolute limit). Maybe it should be 35 hours? That's about 80 minutes per CD.

[Madiel]

26 CDs and 45 hours? Doesn't compute. That's over 100 minutes per disc, but CDs can't store even 90 minutes of music (86 minutes starts to be the absolute limit). Maybe it should be 35 hours? That's about 80 minutes per CD.

You are undoubtedly correct. I haven't seen anything from the box itself stating the total timing, but as it's 26 CDs there's a definite limit to how much you can fit on each one. From the track listings the discs do seem quite well filled. 34 or 35 hours is more like it.

[Duke Bluebeard]

I bought the Fauré Complete Works box set on Erato, but the metadata is so screwed up that I haven't even ripped it to my SSD yet. I already have enough of his music ripped at the moment, but I did want to rip this set for the odds and ends that I don't have on yet.