Gabriel Fauré - Complete Piano Music (Jean-Philippe Collard)

Information

Composer: Gabriel Fauré

• Complete Piano Music (4 CDs)

Jean-Philippe Collard, piano

Recording: 1973-1983 (EMI)
Release: 2006 (Brilliant Classics)
https://www.brilliantclassics.com/articles/f/faur%C3%A9-complete-piano-works/

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Review

Listeners looking for a collection of the complete piano music of French late Romantic Gabriel Fauré could not do better than this four-disc set by pianist Jean-Philippe Collard. Everything is here, from the well-known ballade and nocturnes through the less well-known barcarolles and impromptus to the nearly unknown Souvenirs de Bayreuth. And everything is beautifully, soulfully, and even powerfully realized. Mid-20th century French pianist Collard has vastly better physical technique than earlier pianists like Cortot and hugely deeper emotional equipment than later pianists like Thibaudet. Together with Collard's manifest commitment to and affection for the music, this makes for a superlative set. Collard not only grasps the subtleties of Fauré's thought and feelings, but he knows how to express them so the music rings true. This is a particularly tough trick to pull off in Fauré since the composer's music is famously passionate as well as infamously elusive, and most pianists overemphasize the former and neglect the latter altogether. Collard brilliantly balances the two, making this set appealing not only the first time through but on multiple hearings. Recorded in lush stereo sound, this set belongs in every representative collection of Fauré's music.

-- James Leonard, All Music

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Gabriel Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, nocturnes for piano and the songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Fauré composed many of his most highly regarded works in his later years, in a more harmonically and melodically complex style. His music has been described as linking the end of Romanticism with 20th century modernism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Faur%C3%A9

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Jean-Philippe Collard (born 27 January 1948 in Mareuil-sur-Ay, Marne) is a renowned French pianist who is known for his interpretations of the works of Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns. At 16 he won First Prize at the Paris Conservatory of Music. He is also a winner of the Gabriel Fauré Award. In addition, Collard has won a First Prize from the Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud Competition, the Albert Roussel Award and the Cziffra International Competition. Collard is considered one of the greatest exponents of the French school and a prolific recording artist with more than thirty titles to his credit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Philippe_Collard

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