Impromptus – Fauré and Chopin
Ismaël Margain (piano)
rec. 2021, Salon de musique de l’hôtel de la Fondation Singer-Polignac, Paris
Naïve V7860 [59]
In an interview with Claire Boisteau in the accompanying booklet to this release, French pianist Ismaël Margain sets out his stall, explaining his reasoning behind the pairing of Chopin and Fauré. The inspiration came to him some time ago when he first discovered Fauré’s rarely performed and rarely recorded Impromptus. It occurred to him that these works, overflowing with fantasy and imagination, had many similarities with Chopin’s Impromptus. The programme highlights an “obvious kinship between their styles and their inspiration”. Fauré was a great admirer of Chopin, and his piano oeuvre contains, in addition to Impromptus, Nocturnes, Barcarolles, a Ballade and a Mazurka. Margain has devised a programme which is a novel mix of interspersing the two composer’s Impromptus. As the number of Fauré’s outnumber those by Chopin, a couple of other works by the latter have been added to rebalance the recital.
Unlike Schubert and Chopin’s Impromptus, Fauré’s are much less well-known. He wrote five in all, but they’ve lagged behind in popularity and profile his thirteen Nocturnes and thirteen Barcarolles. You may be wondering why there’s a sixth Impromtu featured in this recording. The explanation is that this Op 86 piece wasn’t written for the piano but rather for the harp. This is a later piano transcription. I noticed that it isn’t included in the recent Bärenreiter edition.
The impromptus have an improvisational quality, and are characterized by mood changes. Alfred Cortot likened No 1 to a rapid barcarolle, with ”sunlit water and a stylised coquetry and regret”. Attractive are its decorative elements and its manifold flights of technical panache. The Second Impromptu is more lightly scored. It presents a buoyant tarantella. Margain’s glistening finger work and expressive contouring of the middle section make this one of the finest versions I’ve heard. Many favour No 3 of the set. It features a moto perpetuo accompaniment in the outer sections, but the middle section is one of passionate intensity; maybe this accounts for its popularity. No 4 is tortuous. I also find it more sombre than the first three. Cascading whirls and flourishes characterize the fifth Impromptu. Margain approaches the figurations with lightness and brilliance, achieving some magical colourful sonorities along the way. No 6 is played with coruscating dazzle. Although not stated in the notes, I assume that Margain performs the transcription of the harp piece made by Cortot and published in 1913.
The pianist’s choice of tempi in Chopin’s three Impromptus and Fantasie-Impromptu is ideal in my view; each sits comfortably. A good example is my favorite, No 3 in G-flat. I’ve heard a wide spectrum of tempi for this piece, from Ashkenazy’s live performance on Youtube which sounds too fast, to Sokolov’s performance which is painfully slow. Margain hits the target perfectly. He plays them all with power and poetry, with the central sections of each expressive and lyrically effusive. The Fantasie-Impromptu is one of the composer’s most popular works, and it here receives a glittering performance.
Of the other works on the disc, Chopin’s Berceuse is exquisitely played with a warm, ravishing tone. The variations are not held in check by the metric regularity of the left hand, but have a flexible freedom. Fauré’s brief Improvisation in C-sharp minor is taken from his Huit pièces brèves, a collection of pieces of varied and fleeting moods. In the booklet interview, the pianist describes his own Improvisation which closes the disc, thus: “Not a single note was written; it’s a one shot”. It brings together several themes of the works performed, beginning with the Berceuse.
Margain is very much at home in this music, and is its ideal exponent. I’m won over by the fantasy and imagination he weaves into each of the pieces featured. All told, this is a brilliantly constructed and well-thought-out programme. Superbly played and recorded, it’s a refreshing survey. A stunning disc.
Stephen Greenbank
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Contents
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Impromptu No 1 in E-flat major, Op 25
Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849)
Impromptu No 1 in A-flat major, Op 29
Gabriel Fauré
Impromptu No 2 in F minor, Op 31
Frédéric Chopin
Étude in F minor, Op 25, No 2
Gabriel Fauré
Impromptu No 3 in A-flat major, Op 34
Frédéric Chopin
Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Op 66
Gabriel Fauré
Impromptu No 4 in D-flat major, Op 91
Frédéric Chopin
Impromptu No 2 in F-sharp minor, Op 36
Gabriel Fauré
Impromptu No 5 in F-sharp minor, Op 102
Frédéric Chopin
Impromptu No 3 in G-flat major, Op 51
Gabriel Fauré
Impromptu No 6 in D-flat major, Op 86
Frédéric Chopin
Berceuse in D-flat major, Op 57
Gabriel Fauré
Improvisation in C-sharp minor, Op 84
Ismaël Margain (b. 1992)
Improvisation
