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The most authorative complete recording of Fauré’s intoxicating pianistic flowers. The fact that Verlaine found his composer in Gabriel Fauré – that Clair de lune from Fêtes galantes and La Bonne Chanson rank among the composer’s most outstanding successes – does not mean that Fauré should only been seen as the composer of hazy dreams, of quicksilver emotions, of startled outpourings for fair turn-of-the-century listeners.

The Nocturnes alone – composed over a span of almost 40 years (1883–1922) – would suffice to prevent any identification of the composer, trained in the rigorous discipline of the Niedermeyer School, with the impressionist poet. Verlaine delights in the uncertainty of feelings and landscapes, thereby entertaining a confusion between a hazy exterior and the irresolutions of an aching soul – a continuing game of deceit.

In Fauré, on the other hand, one finds no such ambiguity: his consciousness does not allow itself to dissolve into a world where objects have completely lost their outline. Northern mists, a murky chiaroscuro, an unhealthy twilight, this is what suits Verlaine’s equivocal Nocturnes. Fauré is a man from the South: his Night retains all the luminosity and brightness of the Mediterranean, paths can be made out and emotions do not stray off into an uneasy twilight zone.

A collection of everyone’s favourite sacred choral music, including Mozart’s Ave verum corpus, Faure’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Franck’s Panis angelicus.

In addition to these famous works is music by Bruckner, Stanford, Grieg, Byrd, Mendelssohn, Lotti, Rachmaninoff, Elgar and Brahms. This is music to soothe the soul!

This collection is very varied featuring string quartets, piano quartets, trios, clarinet quintets and string quintets in addition to other combinations.

The attractive repertoire is selected from the Classical and Romantic eras up to and including Grieg’s string quartets. Dvorák’s Dumky Trio, the Brahms Horn Trio and Schubert and Mendelssohn’s Octets are but a few of the popular chamber included in this set.

5 CD + CD ROM of booklet notes and sung texts

CD 1: Lamentation

CD 2: Henry Purcell

CD 3: Evensong & Vespers at King's - Vespers for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Evenson for Advent

CD 4: Sacred Choral Favourites

CD 5: Works by Rutter, Bernstein & Poulenc

This set contains a selection of the recordings by the great French violinist focusing on his prowess as a chamber musician.

Ferras was born in 1933 of musical parentage – his father had been a violinist and a pupil of Marcel Chailley, a devotee and friend of Saint-Saëns. Though Christian’s talent was not in dispute, his father was extremely pushy and the undue pressure he exerted on his young son probably led to the mental instability that led to Ferras’s suicide in 1982. At the age of 8, Ferras enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire and in 1943 won first prize.

He recorded for the major record companies, and his colleague and friend, the violinist Zino Francescatti, commented that these recordings with Pierre Barbizet made in 1968 over five days were ‘musical perfection’. Ferras was ranked alongside Oistrakh, Stern, Menuhin and Francescatti in the top five violinists of his age, and it was Ferras whom Menuhin chose as ‘the ideal partner’ for the recording of the Bach Double Concerto for EMI in 1959.

Included are the three Brahms sonatas, the two by Schumann and those by Franck and the intriguing, short-lived Belgian Lekeu. Disc 4 contains encores that Ferras was especially fond of.

This set is a superb portrait of a great artist, who was gifted beyond anyone’s wildest dreams but lost the fight with his inner demons of depression and alcohol dependency. Essential listening for all lovers of the violin

‘Ferras is a player who habitually turns the simplest of melodic lines to poetical song … Lovers of the César Franck who happen not to know the Lekeu could well find a real extension of their pleasure in this very good record.’ Gramophone

‘Finely balanced yet ardent performance of the (Brahms) First Sonata.’ Gramophone

Extensive booklet tribute to and survey of Ferras’s life and career

Gabriel Faure composed his requiem in 1887/8 after a period of intense personal grief. His father had died in 1885, and his mother died two years later. The early version was scored for violas, cellos, organ, harp and timpani.

A later version performed in 1888 had horns and trumpets added. A further development, he added a Libera me, and he made further additions to the orchestration in 1894. It was yet another revision in 1895 that saw the Reqiuem take the form that we know it best today – with full orchestra.

Compared to the requiems by Mozart, Cherubini, Berlioz and Verdi, Faure’s masterpiece is predominantly a serene work. That isn’t to say it is without drama, but overall the work has a humanist acknowledgement of suffering rather than an overtly Christian view. The Wagnerian harmonies are restrained by sombre colourings and ancient church modes.

The Requiem is an intensely personal utterance. Charles Koechlin said ‘thanks to the overflowing of his heart, Faure has created an aeterna requiem of serene gentleness and consoling hope’

Recording made by Philips in 1985.

Booklet notes.

Concertos by Danzi, Benda, Hoffmeister, CPE Bach, A Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Telemann & Mozart.