Fauré: Le parfum impérissable Op. 76 No. 1

After the Spanish composer Albéniz settled in Paris, he became part of an inner circle of composers including Chausson, Dukas, Fauré, Debussy and Ravel. All of the works on this CD were written between 1895 and 1909, the year Albéniz died. They show a great variety of styles and colours and it is sublime music.

French ‘lightness’ and ‘charm’? Germanic ‘profundity’ and ‘gravity’?

These words sum up in a nutshell what we are offered by the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen conducted by Oswald Sallaberger for their first collaboration with Zig-Zag Territoires.

On the programme: Gabriel Fauré’s symphonic suite Pelléas et Mélisande; then a selection of his songs in their orchestral versions, performed by Karine Deshayes (Victoire de la Musique for opera singer of the year 2011).

Finally the Siegfried Idyll of Richard Wagner, probably the most delicately poetic of his works, far removed from the grandiosity of his music dramas.

A fascinating release featuring songs written between 1888 and 1904 and two separate songs from 1906. This CD covers 18 years of composition, roughly Faure’s ‘second style’, which just happened to be the radiant years for his piano catalogue.

“A little more than ten years ago I discovered the late works of Gabriel Fauré, and particularly the sumptuous cycle La Chanson d’Ève. A decade later, I still traverse with the same pleasure the intensely expressive luxuriance of these songs and their exhilarating harmonic density. La Chanson d’Ève, like Le Jardin clos and the other songs we wished to include in this recording, expresses an extreme refinement capable of going straight to the heart of the matter, sometimes with a disarming simplicity, but invariably underpinned by a flawless structure. They are among the works to which I feel very close today, at once nourished by them and inspired by the urge to share the profound enjoyment they give me. After ten years of complicity with the pianist Hélène Lucas, the time has come to invest our pleasure, our enthusiasm and the end result of all our hard work in a disc which is both a challenge and, above all, an immense source of delight for us.” Karine Deshayes

It was in 1972, when he was singing at Glyndebourne, that Cuenod began recording for Nimbus. In these records he leaves a unique and precious account of French song, which, incidentally, he taught every year in Europe and the United States. This album of Fauré and Duparc has never previously been released. Hugues Cuenod was between seventy and seventy-six at the time and the result is miraculous. Hear how skilfully he 'speaks' the text like an actor, with perfect diction and clarity. His style is admirably simple and natural, which is the most difficult thing to achieve in the very special art of the French 'mélodie'. He never descends into sentimentality or over-interpretation, temptations to which many singers of both sexes too often succumb.