Fauré: La Bonne Chanson, Op. 61

The London Bridge Ensemble is one of Britain’s most exciting chamber groups, presenting innovative and stimulating programmes of chamber music, including lieder, string trios, piano trios and quartets and song, on occasion inviting guest artists to form larger combinations in order to explore an even richer and more versatile repertoire.

Since making its Wigmore Hall debut in 2005, which included the première of a work written for the group by David Matthews, the group’s engagements have included concerts at Sheffield Music in the Round, St. David’s Hall, Cardiff, St. George’s, Bristol, St. John’s Smith Square and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. Individually, the performers are amongst the most distinguished artists of their generation, playing widely in other established groups and ensembles, and working with many of Europe’s leading orchestras and opera houses.

When he sadly died earlier this year, the great baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau left behind an amazing legacy of recordings. This CD features three relative rarities by French composers from the turn of the 20th century: La Bonne Chanson op. 61 by Gabriel Fauré, the Chansons Madécasses by Maurice Ravel, and Le Bal Masqué by Francis Poulenc.

The music is performed by Fischer-Dieskau with eleven soloists from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, including the violinist Thomas Brandis, flautist Karlheinz Zöller, and the clarinettist Karl Leister. The pianist is Wolfgang Sawallisch, who although a highly regarded instrumentalist in his own right, is particularly renowned as one of the leading conductors of the time.

La Bonne Chanson in its version for voice and piano quintet is the musical meeting-point between Karine Deshayes and the artists of the Ensemble Contraste, all great lovers of and specialists in French music. Zig-Zag Territoires has been following Karine Deshayes’s recording career since her first recital disc featuring Fauré’s Le Jardin clos and La Chanson d’Ève, released in September 2009, and continues to accompany the Ensemble Contraste in its development after the release of its CD Café 1930 (Piazzolla) in January 2009.

A reinterpretation of the works of Gabriel Fauré by a new generation of musicians.