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Tag: Fauré

Massenet and Fauré Anniversary: Celebrate French Masters

Today is the anniversary of the births of two outstanding French composers: Jules Massenet (1842-1912) and Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924).

Massenet’s fluency and emotionally direct style made him the most successful French opera composer of his generation. Fauré was the more progressive of the two. He wrote meticulously-crafted music of great nuance, with a harmonic sense that seemed to yearn for the 20th century. As an administrator, he blew the dust off the Paris Conservatory and ushered in an era of unprecedented reform.

Here are two absorbing interpretations of music by these very different French masters.

Joan Sutherland sings a selection from Massenet’s medieval romance “Esclarmonde”:

Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, a Fauré pupil, plays his Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat:

Joyeux anniversaire, mes amis!

PHOTOS: Fauré (left) and Massenet en plein air

May 12, 2020
Poulenc vs. Fauré: A Musical Feud

Francis Poulenc once described Gabriel Fauré’s music as physically unbearable. Florent Schmitt, who studied with Fauré, hated Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds. At its premiere, he described it as wandering and vulgar.

Turnabout is fair play, on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.”

Poulenc labored over his Sextet for the better part of a decade. He began work on the composition in 1931, when he was in his early 30s. Then he subjected it to a complete overhaul, so that he came to regard it as a completely different piece. In 1939, with Europe on the brink of war, Poulenc extensively revised it again. The sextet reached its definitive form, with France under Nazi occupation, in 1940.

The outer movements are frantic, but at the work’s core is the soul of the composer, jovial, wistful, and altogether irresistible. Some have regarded it as an affectionate parody of the 18th century divertimento. (It is described by the composer as a divertissement.) In particular, it seems to inhabit a world not all that far from Mozart’s slow movements.

We’ll hear Poulenc’s reviled Sextet, performed at the Marlboro Music Festival in 2015, by flutist Marina Piccinini, oboist Mark Lynch, clarinetist Narek Arutyunian, bassoonist Brad Balliett, hornist Lauren Hunt, and pianist Zoltan Fejérvári.

Then we’ll turn to music by Poulenc’s musical nemesis. Fauré completed his Piano Quartet No. 2 in G minor in 1887, when he was 42, just about a year older than Poulenc was when his Sextet reached its definitive form.

The work may come as something as a surprise to anyone expecting the fairly chaste atmosphere of the Requiem, begun around the same time. In contrast to the Elysian serenity conjured in his great choral opus, the quartet is passionate and personal. The evocative slow movement, which the composer described as “a vague reverie,” was inspired by the memory of evening bells at the village of Cadirac, in the south of France, which he knew as a child.

The quartet was performed at Marlboro in 2001, by pianist Gilbert Kalish, violinist Catherine Cho, violist Melissa Reardon, and cellist Raman Ramakrishnan.

While it’s true that, as a young man, Poulenc had a violent reaction to Fauré’s music, it is one that became tempered with experience. “I hated Fauré until I was 30 and then I realized that he was a very great composer. So I made an effort with myself and began to admire him. It’s an attitude I’ve maintained and built on, but physically it is for me an unbearable kind of music, what can I do about it?”

Um, and things were going so well, until that last little bit…

It’s an uneasy truce, on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

Poulenc: The more I listen to Fauré, the more I love my dog

January 29, 2020
Fauré & Gounod: Youthful Masterpieces

Don’t let those grey whiskers fool you.

From a certain limited perspective, I suppose, Gabriel Fauré might have been considered a little long in the tooth when he came to compose the music we’ll hear on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.” But, as he so eloquently demonstrated, when it comes to art, age is only a number.

At 76 years-old, Fauré surprised just about everyone when he unveiled his Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor in 1921. For one thing, no one except his wife knew he was even at work on anything. He was supposed to have retired, having stepped down from the directorship of the Paris Conservatory only the year before.

Though the composer’s health in his later years was far from the best, thanks in part to decades of heavy smoking, the Quintet conveys a surprisingly youthful spirit, full of tenderness and ardor. Paradoxically, a knowing serenity hangs over the piece, lending it a kind of wisdom and balance. I am reminded of Wordsworth’s assessment that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.

We’ll hear it performed at the 2015 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist Roman Rabinovich, violinists YooJin Jang and Scott St. John, violist Shuangshuang Liu, and cellist Will Chow.

The program will open with Charles Gounod’s classically proportioned and wholly delightful “Petite symphonie” for nine wind instruments. Gounod, best known for his opera “Faust,” “Funeral March of a Marionette” (appropriated by Alfred Hitchcock), and for his setting of “Ave Maria,” was 66 when his “little symphony” was first performed in 1885. Though structurally the work travels a well-worn path, beaten a hundred years earlier by composers like Haydn and Mozart, its long-limbed melodies and occasional harmonic surprises mark it as a product of its time. Despite its evident nostalgia, its spirit of youth is ever-green.

It was played at Marlboro in 2013 by flutist Marina Piccinini, oboists Nathan Hughes and Joseph Peters, clarinetists Anthony McGill and Alicia Lee, bassoonists Brad Balliett and Steven Dibner, and hornists David Cooper and Radovan Vlatković.

This summer’s Marlboro Music Festival will run through August 11, as always on the campus of Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont. This weekend will include performances of music by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Marlboro composer-in-residence Jörg Widmann, on Saturday at 8 p.m.; and Schubert and more Widmann, on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. For more information, visit marlboromusic.org.

To get you in the mood, join me for an hour of French music that belies and defies the passage of time, on the next “Music from Marlboro, this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

Timeless beauties: Gabriel Fauré (left) and Charles Gounod

July 17, 2019
Fauré, Poulenc & More from Marlboro Music Festival

On this week’s “Music from Marlboro,” we get Sharp, as baritone William Sharp performs Gabriel Fauré’s cycle of nine mélodies, “La bonne chanson.”

These settings of poetry by Paul Verlaine were composed in the summers of 1892 and 1893, while Fauré was a guest of banker Sigismond Bardac and his wife (with whom Fauré was in love), soprano Emma Bardac. Fauré would compose the “Dolly Suite” for Bardac’s daughter, but it was Claude Debussy for whom she left her husband and eventually married.

In 1898, Fauré expanded the accompaniment to “La bonne chanson” to include a string quartet. The cycle contains a number of musical themes that recur from song to song. The piece was much admired by Proust, though Saint-Saëns thought the composer had gone mad.

We’ll hear a performance from the 1984 Marlboro Music Festival. Sharp is joined by violinists Carmit Zori and Margaret Batjer, violist John Graham, cellist Ulrich Boeckheler, and pianist Luis Batlle.

Francis Poulenc labored over his Sextet for Piano and Winds for the better part of a decade. The work was given its premiere, in its original version, in 1931. Then it underwent a complete overhaul, so that the composer regarded it as an entirely different piece at its first performance, in this second incarnation, two years later. In 1939, with Europe on the brink of war, Poulenc extensively revised it again. The sextet reached its definitive form, with France under Nazi occupation, in 1940. The outer movements are frantic, but at the work’s core is the soul of the composer, jovial, wistful, and altogether irresistible.

We’ll hear it performed at Marlboro in 2015, by flutist Marina Piccinini, oboist Mark Lynch, clarinetist Narek Arutyunian, bassoonist Brad Balliett, hornist Lauren Hunt, and pianist Zoltan Fejérvári.

Since we’re in midst of a membership campaign, the rest of the program will unfurl as time allows. I would love to share Maurice Ravel’s “Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé” – it would be a nice way to round out the hour, and an appropriate bookend to Fauré’s mélodies after Verlaine – but more than likely it will be his “Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet.”

Which reminds me, it’s the end of our fiscal year! Please support us by calling 1-888-232-1212, or by contributing online at wwfm.org (click on “donate”).

Then pardon my French. I’ll be talking a sacre bleu streak on the next “Music from Marlboro,” this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

Incidentally, if you are a William Sharp fan, you’ll want to tune in on Friday at 8 p.m. for a rebroadcast of Bernard Herrmann’s music for the radio play “Whitman.” The concert was given at Washington’s National Cathedral on June 1. Sharp will be heard in the title role, reciting Whitman’s poetry, with the PostClassical Ensemble conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez. Also on the program will be Herrmann’s Clarinet Quintet, “Souvenirs de Voyage,” and “Psycho: A Narrative for String Orchestra.”

PHOTOS: The young Fauré (left) and William Sharp, channeling his hair

June 26, 2019
Fauré, Gounod: Ageless Music from Marlboro

Maybe it’s all that red wine.

From a certain, limited perspective, Gabriel Fauré might have been considered a little long in the tooth when he came to write the music we’ll hear on this week’s “Music from Marlboro.” But, as he so eloquently proved, when it comes to art, age is only a number.

At 76 years-old, Fauré surprised just about everyone when he unveiled his Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor in 1921. For one thing, no one except his wife knew he was even working on anything. For another, he was supposed to be retired, having stepped down from the directorship of the Paris Conservatory only the year before.

Though the composer’s health in his later years was far from the best, thanks in part to decades of heavy smoking, the Quintet conveys a surprisingly youthful spirit, full of tenderness and ardor. Paradoxically, a knowing serenity hangs over the piece, lending it a kind of wisdom and balance. I am reminded of Wordsworth’s assessment that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility.

We’ll hear it performed at the 2015 Marlboro Music Festival by pianist Roman Rabinovich, violinists YooJin Jang and Scott St. John, violist Shuangshuang Liu, and cellist Will Chow.

The program will open with Charles Gounod’s classically proportioned and wholly delightful “Petite symphonie” for nine wind instruments. Gounod, best known for his opera “Faust” and for his setting of “Ave Maria,” was 66 at the time of the work’s premiere in 1885. Though the structure is well-worn, based on the standard symphonic form developed a hundred years earlier by composers like Haydn and Mozart, its long-limbed melodies and occasional harmonic surprises mark it as a product of its time. In spite of its evident nostalgia, its spirit of youth seems ever-green.

The performance, from 2013, will feature flutist Marina Piccinini, oboists Nathan Hughes and Joseph Peters, clarinetists Anthony McGill and Alicia Lee, bassoonists Brad Balliett and Steven Dibner, and hornists David Cooper and Radovan Vlatković.

It’s an hour of French music that belies and defies the passage of time, with performances from the archives of the legendary Marlboro Music Festival, this Wednesday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Marlboro School of Music and Festival: Official Page

FOREVER YOUNG: Gabriel Fauré (left) and Charles Gounod

September 26, 2018

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