Gabriel Fauré

Selected Songs

Widely acclaimed by music lovers for over a century, Selected Songs  -of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) are here collected into an anthology, complete with an audio version in the form of a download card. Excerpted from the 1stcollection published in 1879, Au bord de l'eau and Ici bas bestow an aura of internal reverie on Sully Prudhomme's simple poems, made palpËable by the harmonic refinement and vocal fluidity that constitutes the very essence ofFaurean charm.   -Several vocal pages selected in the 2nd volume (1897) continue to be favourites: Les Roses d'Ispahan restored to their dreamy stillness, Les Berceaux whose oscillation evokes the swaying of boats, and the verynostalgic Clair de lune in which Verlaine's words, set to music for the first time, inspired Fauré to write what would become one of his masterpieces: La Bonne Chanson.   -From this cycle, drunk on lovelorn lyricism, thecollection retains Puisque l'aube grandit, an exalted melody if there ever was one, and La lune blanche luit dans les bois, a nocturnal landscape in F sharp major ' two pearls that distil the same mystery of solace.