Fauré: Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 109

Fauré - Works for Cello & Piano

Born in 1845, the French composer and organist Gabriel Fauré is now acknowledged as one of the most important writers of chamber music of his period. The delicate and elegant style of his music, redolent of the salons of Parisian high-society, is underpinned by a core of emotional depth and an often adventurous approach to harmony. Although he did not compose a great deal of music for the solo cello, he seems to have had a special affinity for the instrument and its lyrical qualities. It is therefore no surprise that these works have become favourites with both audiences and performers. This recording contains all the pieces originally written by Fauré for cello and piano, including one of his most beautiful and enduring short compositions, the “Elégie”, opus 24, and the two sonatas, opus 109 and 119.

Paul Tortelier plays Fauré & Debussy

Digitally remastered

Fauré - Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2

Fauré’s two cello sonatas are compact, beautifully written works whose musical language, with its many subtle changes of tonality and gift for melody, has been described as conveying ‘the power of tranquil thought’. Written in the summer of 1917, during the First World War, the neglected First Sonata begins with a troubled Allegro, followed by an eloquent Andante and a sparkling Finale. The C minor Andante of the Second Sonata has its origin in a Chant funèbre commissioned for the celebration in May 1921 of the centenary of the death of Napoleon. This recital also includes an arrangement of the ever-popular song Après un rêve, as well as the virtuosic Papillon.

Fauré - Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2

The Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 109 is a fascinating and unsettling product of those dark days of the First World War. Fauré’s youngest son was in the army and it is not hard to hear something of his father’s anxiety in the sonata. The Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 117 was written between March and November 1921 and this happier time is reflected in more contented music. Fauré’s friend Vincent d’Indy, spoke for many when he complimented his fellow composer on the sheer ‘youthfulness’ of this music: ‘plus the mastery of maturity. And it’s so beautiful!’ These works are here joined by Nocturne No. 13 in B minor, Op. 119, completed after the death of Fauré’s closest friend, Camille Saint-Saëns. It was Fauré’s last solo piano work and completed the second of two great work cycles, the Barcarolles and Nocturnes, which between them chart the course of Fauré’s composing life and contain some of the composer’s most intimate thoughts. The Thirteenth Nocturne is as well the summation of the two sets. ‘Its grip is so powerful’, wrote the great French pianist Yvonne Lefébure, ‘that there is no place for rational explanation…, it is the only example of a work in which not a single note could be changed or removed’. Completing the disc is the Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120, which despite its moments of drama unfolds with an easy-flowing serenity.

Fauré - Works for Cello & Piano

Sonatas for Cello and Piano

Fauré - Complete Music for Cello & Piano