Fauré : Complete chamber music for strings

Renaud Capuçon, Gautier Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Nicholas Angelich, Quatuor Ébène – 2011

Chamber works by Fauré, the influential composer who bridged the Romantic and Modern era in French music, are performed by a magnificent line-up of French and French-trained musicians.

Quintessentially Gallic in its amalgam of classical rigour, inventive harmonic language and subtle, but arresting sensuality, Fauré’s chamber music is here performed by nine leading French-born musicians – violinist Renaud Capuçon, violist Gérard Caussé, cellists Gautier Capuçon and Raphaël Merlin, pianist Michel D’Alberto, string quartet Quatuor Ebène – and an honorary Frenchman, US-born, Paris-trained pianist Nicholas Angelich. The four CDs comprise works for two, three, four and five instruments and span the composer’s career from early works, influenced by his teacher Saint-Saëns, to the more rarefied compositions of his later years.

DISC 1 :

Sonate Nr.1 Op.13 in A major
01 / I. Allegro molto    10:03
02 / II. Andante    7:43
03 / III. Allegro vivo   4:21
04 / IV. Allegro quasi presto    5:54
05 / Berceuse, Op.16    3:39
06 / Romance Op.28    5:32
07 / Andante Op.75    4:11
08 / Morceau de Lecture    1:38

Sonata for Cello & Piano No.2 in E Minor Op.108
09 / I. Allegro non troppo    9:10
10 / II. Andante    8:03
11 / III. Allegro non troppo    6:46

DISC 2 :

Sonate Op.109
01 / I. Allegro    5:48
02 / II. Andante    7:51
03 / III. Final: Allegro commodo    7:02
04 / Élégie Op.24    6:42
05 / Pièce pour Violoncelle (Papillon) Op.77    2:55
06 / Romance Op.69    4:16
07 / Sérénade Op.98    3:06
08 / Sicilienne Op.78    3:52

Deuxième Sonate Op.117
09 / I. Allegro    7:12
10 / II. Andante    8:41
11 / III. Allegro vivo    5:20

DISC 3 :

Trio for Piano & Strings in D Minor Op.120
01 / Allegro ma non troppo    6:00
02 / Andantino    9:32
03 / Allegro vivo    4:48

Quartet for Strings in E Minor Op.121
04 / I Allegro moderato    6:32
05 / II Andante    10:06
06 / III Allegro    7:42

DISC 4 :

Quartet for Piano & Strings in C Minor Op.15
01 / I. Allegro molto moderato    9:51
02 / II. Scherzo: Allegro vivo    5:46
03 / III. Adagio    7:24
04 / IV. Allegro molto    8:51

Quartet for Piano and Strings No. 2 in G minor Op. 45
05 / Allegro molto moderato    11:58
06 / Allegro molto    3:37
07 / Adagio non troppo    11:41
08 / Allegro molto    9:50

DISC 5 :

Quintet for Piano & Strings Nr.1 Op.89
01 / Molto Moderato    12:06
02 / Adagio    11:35
03 / Allegretto moderato    8:22

Quintet for Piano & Strings No.2 Op.115
04 / I. Allegro moderato    11:53
05 / II. Allegro vivo    4:13
06 / III. Andante moderato    12:48
07 / IV. Allegro molto    6:31
08 / Morceau de lecture for Two Cellos    0:59