フォーレ: 優しい歌 Op.61(ピアノと弦楽五重奏伴奏版)&歌曲集

フォーレの歌曲は、彼の芸術の最も輝かしい一面であり、この作曲家の繊細な旋律の才能は、同時代の力強いフランスの詩に完璧に合っていました。このリサイタルでは、ニッキー・スペンスとジュリアス・ドレイクが、冒頭の最も優れた歌曲集『優しい歌』をはじめ、素晴らしい歌曲の数々を披露しています。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

The title group of songs here is the leadoff item; it is a group of love songs that, from Faures perspective, was addressed to his married girlfriend of the time, Emma Bardac (the poet, Paul Verlaine, had someone else in mind, and Faure ended up getting a taste of his own medicine when Bardac later took up with Claude Debussy). It is a remarkable group, somewhat Wagnerian, and as progressive harmonically as anything else Faure ever wrote. In the version performed here by tenor Nicky Spence, Faure added a string quintet to his voice-and-piano original. This is not often heard, and it has a steamy, romantic atmosphere, murky in the best way. Listen as the cycle builds up to the final Lhiver a cesse ("Winter Is Over") with its ebullient assertion that "the saddest heart must surrender to the great joy that fills the air." The performances here by Spence, accompanist Julius Drake, and the Piatti Quartet (with Tim Gibbs on double bass) are well worth seeking out. The rest of the album consists of an assortment of songs from across Faures decades-long career to texts of various poets; theyre something of a mixed bag, but all are performed at Spences usual high level. Hyperions sound from St. Silas the Martyr Church is clear enough but adds none of the inwardness the songs need. Audiences responded to the great distinctiveness of the title song cycle by putting this album on classical best-seller charts in early 2025. ~ James Manheim