This recording is the latest release in Angela Hewitt’s highly
regarded series of solo piano music by French composers, the list of which
has included Rameau, Couperin, Chabrier, Messiaen, Ravel, and most recently
Debussy. I have marvelled at her recorded work to date and was quite eager
to have the opportunity to acquire and review this recording. It seemed only
natural and a matter of time for Hewitt to release an album of piano music
by Gabriel Fauré, and we learn from the first line of the
pianist’s album notes that this had been her idea for quite some time.
Fauré’s
oeuvre for solo piano include thirteen
Nocturnes, thirteen
Barcarolles, six
Impromptus, four
Valses-Caprices, and a number of other significant works including
Romances sans paroles,
Ballade in F# major,
Mazurka in B
flat major,
Thème et variations, and
Huit pièces
brèves.
Hewitt has thoughtfully selected compositions that date from
different stylistic periods of Fauré’s life. She opens with the
Thème et variations in C sharp minor, composed in 1895, which
is Fauré’s longest work for solo piano and one of his greatest.
Hewitt’s playing here is sublime: from the moment she declares the
solemn, march-like opening of the theme, we are captivated by her lyrical
phrasing and sensitive use of rubato, tight control of dynamics, and
articulate fingerwork. Each of the eleven variations has its unique
contours, colours and textures. She effectively communicates the nervous
energy of the second and third variations, haunts us with the eeriness of
the sixth, touches us with the serenity of the ninth. The tenth variation
ends with a climactic resolution in C sharp minor, leading us to believe
that the work is over; however, out of the decaying sound of that seemingly
final chord emerges the last variation in the major mode - harmonically rich
and compellingly beautiful. As Aaron Copland described it: “How many
pianists, I wonder, have not regretted that the composer disdained the easy
triumph of closing on the brilliant, dashing tenth variation. No, poor
souls, they must turn the page and play that last, enigmatic (and most
beautiful) one, which seems to leave the audience with so little desire to
applaud.”
Next are two of Fauré’s four
Valses-Caprices,
composed around the time of his marriage and lighter and more playful in
mood. These are charming works full of colour and contrast: tender, at times
melancholy, melodies are juxtaposed with joyous, animated, rowdier passages.
In the latter, Hewitt really brings out their dance elements, providing a
strong rhythmic foundation while brilliantly executing lines of rapid
fingerwork. The
Nocturnes, which many agree to be some of the most
beautiful works ever written for solo piano, were composed across a span of
forty years, and Hewitt has chosen to record three of her favourites, each
representative of a different phase of Fauré’s life. After
listening to these selections, I only wish that she had recorded the entire
set. In her hands, these miniature musical tone poems, with their myriad
moods ranging from tranquillity to animation to introspection, are given
fresh life, and it is clear that Hewitt has truly assimilated these works.
No. 13, Fauré’s last work for solo piano, has a philosophical,
metaphysically searching nature which is reminiscent of the slow movements
of his chamber works such as the
Piano Trio in D minor and
String
Quartet in E minor, both of which were also written in his final years.
Rather leaving us on a fatalistic note, Hewitt takes us back to
Fauré’s more youthful days and completes her album with the
lyrical and uplifting
Ballade pour piano seul.
Hyperion’s recording engineers have beautifully captured the
sound and dynamic range of Hewitt’s Fazioli concert grand piano. Bass
notes which figure prominently in nearly all of these piano works have a
deep, rich resonance. The venue, the same used for most of Hewitt’s
recent solo recordings for Hyperion, gives the recorded piano’s sound
just the right amount of air without being overly reverberant. The album
notes were thoughtfully prepared by the pianist herself and provide both
historical context as well as personal insight into this collection of
works.
Those of you who have loyally followed Hyperion’s discography
will be aware that this album of Fauré solo piano works is not the
label’s first. Kathryn Stott, another champion of Fauré,
recorded the complete piano works in a four-disc set, including works for
four hands (with Martin Roscoe), for Hyperion in 1994. These were also
excellently recorded and critically praised at the time of their
release
. One cannot discuss the recorded piano works of Fauré
without mentioning two other artists who have recorded their entirety,
Jean-Philippe Collard and Paul Crossley. I would also recommend the
recordings of Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, the Franco-Dutch pianist who was a
student of Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. Although these mono
transfers, now available on the Testament label, cannot compare to the
superb engineering of the album in review, they are nevertheless
historically significant and worth exploring.
Hewitt’s
Fauré Piano Works,
a valuable
addition to the Fauré discography, is a delight from start to finish
and one to which I will certainly return with pleasure. This is pianism of
the highest calibre faithfully captured with first-rate engineering.
Albert Lam
See also review by Jonathan Woolf
