Fauré: 13 Barcarolles

Albumbeschreibung

A regular feature of Oehms Classics, a label that deserves particular attention for its piano productions (particularly with young artists such as Herbert Schuch, Gabriele Carcano or William Youn), Michael Endres – born in 1961 in Sonthofen in the Bavarian Alps – offers his vision for one of the most arduous corpuses of the piano repertoire: even more so than Nocturnes, Fauré’s Barcarolles are a widely diverse ensemble that features some of the composer’s most audacious creations, such as the eminently complex Barcarolle No. 5 (1893), always striking with its coarse chromaticism and its great, almost spectacular gestures. These were the years when Fauré was experimenting with widely differing aesthetics (Nocturne No. 6, Barcarolle No. 6 ― that is already a completely different universe ― or the delicate Thème et Variations). And while 1880 Barcarolle No. 1 remains one of Fauré’s most famous works, and an ideal encore for numerous pianists with its delicious central part and sensual volutes, Barcarolles No. 8 and 10 arguably feature the most expressive moments in the ensemble. The Eighth reveals a magnificent genius for transitions and harmonic suspensions, later reprised by Ravel, and the Ninth, contemplative in the style of a Nocturne (it was in fact composed between Nocturnes No. 10 and 11), builds a melodic discourse of unforgettable scale, in the purest Faurean style, and even foreshadows the hallucinated impetus of his later works. The Tenth and Eleventh are the direct counterparts for Nocturne No. 11 that shares its opus number with the Tenth: depressed state, existential angst are on display, more externalised in the Tenth than in the Eleventh. For this Faurean ensemble, Michael Endres unapologetically takes on an unrelenting, dark discourse. © Théodore Grantet/Qobuz