Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Orchestral Works
Tara Erraught (soprano), Ruth Rosique (soprano), Julien Dran (tenor)
Chamber Choir of Ireland
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland/Jean-Luc Tingaud
rec. 2023/24, National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland
Naxos 8.574619 [66]

The second volume in Jean Luc-Tingaud’s series of Fauré’s oeuvre includes works for orchestra and songs, some orchestrated by other hands. The first volume, not reviewed here, features the unfinished Violin Concerto. I have not heard that disc, but am impressed with this volume. I was largely unfamiliar with the music on this CD, except the popular Pelléas et Mélisande Suite. I found all the music here at least interesting, and some more than that. I am particularly taken with the last work here, the incidental music to Shylock.

My introduction to Fauré’s orchestral pieces was the suite from the incidental music he composed for Maeterlinck’s Pelléas et Mélisande, especially the third movement Sicilienne which was theme music for my local public radio station. I later purchased the Argo recording with Neville Marriner and St. Martin’s Academy-in-the-Fields, which I still enjoy today. Comparing that with this one by the National Symphony of Ireland, I find little to choose between them. Tingaud digs a bit deeper in the music with more variety in dynamics and tempo, and so is at least the equal of the older account. Though the sound on the Marriner disc has stood up well, this Naxos is even better. The biggest advantage here is the inclusion of the sad, poignant Mélisande’s Song, Fauré’s only setting in English, beautifully sung here by soprano Tara Erraught.

Fauré composed Prométhée for a performance in an ancient Greek theatre that, according to Caroline Potter’s booklet note, required some 800 performers including “two military bands, 100 string players and 18 harpists”. Tingaud makes do here with a standard orchestra! The excerpts presented on this disc give a good idea of the music with its Wagnerian influence. The Prélude to Act I’s powerful brass is quite a contrast to the delicate Pelléas et Mélisande Suite. The Prélude to Act II, on the other hand, is quiet; woodwinds and strings depic Pandora’s funeral procession. The Chamber Choir of Ireland makes its only appearance on this disc in Act III’s Des ruisseaux et des sources claires, a chorus of Oceanides water sprites. I found this work the least interesting of the music here.

Three songs that follow the Prométhée music are all gems. En prière is one of the few songs Fauré orchestrated himself. This simple prayer reminded me of the Sicilienne with the scoring of harp and strings. Erraught’s singing is exquisite. La Chanson du pêcheur, as the title indicates, is a fisherman’s song and one of the composer’s earliest such pieces. A love song set in exotic Persia, Les Roses d’Ispahan, begins with a nice part for the cellos and is splendidly orchestrated. Erraught sings well here and in the fisherman’s song, though her diction could be clearer.

Utterly delightful is the Tarentelle, a lively duet for soprano and mezzo, charmingly performed by Erraught and Ruth Rosique.

Beyond Pelléas et Mélisande, the most impressive work on the disc is Shylock, the incidental music Fauré composed for Edmond Haraucourt’s adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. It contains two songs, an Entr’acte, Épithalame, Nocturne, and Finale. Julien Dran with his big, lustrous tenor voice and clearer diction does justice to the romantic serenades; he is accompanied by harp and generally light orchestration. The Entr’acte is quite a contrast with its regal trumpet fanfare and military atmosphere. The Épithalame, a wedding song, reminds me in places of Greensleeves and contains notable violin and horn solos. The quiet Nocturne with muted, subdivided strings is very moving, and is also ravishingly performed here. Shylock ends vivaciously with pizzicato strings and harp, later joined by the woodwinds, horns and trumpets in a dance-like finale that builds powerfully to conclude the work in high spirits. Shylock is a piece I shall certainly return to.

This Naxos series may be a bit late in commemorating the centenary of Fauré’s death, but it is highly worthwhile in bringing attention to some of the composer’s less frequently heard music. The results here, both performance and recording, whet one’s appetite for further installments.

Leslie Wright

Contents
Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80 – Suite (1898/1900)
Pelléas et Mélisande Op. 80 – Act III, Scene 1: Mélisande’s Song (1898/1900)
Prométhée, tragédie, lyrique, Op. 82 (excerpts) (1900, rev. 1917)
En prière (1890)
La Chanson du pêcheur (Lamento), Op. 4, No. 1 (version for voice and orchestra) (?1891)
Les Roses d’Ispahan, Op. 39, No. 4 (version for voice and orchestra) (1891)
Tarentelle, Op. 10, No. 2 (c. 1873/?1880)
Shylock, Op. 57 (1889/1990)

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