CLASSICAL - The Complete Songs of Gabriel Faure [4CD]

A beautiful 4-CD classical vocal collection on the Hyperion label featuring the complete songs or "mélodies" of 19th-century French composer Gabriel Fauré released in 2005 and sung by various artists. All cover art and accompanying liner notes scanned are scanned and included in the torrent. Music is in MP3 format, 192kbps.



Volume 1:

This first disc takes its title, Au bord de l?eau, from the famous song which became Fauré?s calling-card, and presents a generous programme of mélodies of an aquatic nature. The songs are performed in the order of their composition (this rationale of chronology within a general theme will be applied across the other volumes of the series to make up four self-contained and individually satisfying recitals), and alongside several perfect miniatures we here encounter three of the major cycles: the five ?Venetian? songs (to the poetry of Paul Verlaine), L?horizon chimérique, and Mirages, written for Madeleine Grey in thanks for her advocacy of the cycle La chanson d?╚ve.



Volume 2:

This second installment in this series encompassing all Fauré?s songs takes its title from the opening line of Clair de lune ? ?Votre Γme est un paysage choisi? (?Your soul is a chosen landscape?) ? which is regarded by many as representing the pinnacle of Fauré?s considerable achievement in the genre. Here we have songs reflecting the various seasons of the year, atmospheric landscapes from Tuscany to Versailles, and the various mystical symbols of Van Lerberghe?s Le jardin clos.



Volume 3:

This third installment in the series encompassing all Fauré?s songs takes its title from the famous Silvestre setting Chanson d?amour and guides the listener on a journey through the panoply of human emotion. Alongside finely chiselled miniatures we have the early cycle PoΦme d?un jour (to poetry by Grandmougin), the suite from the Shakespeare/ Haraucourt drama Shylock (which includes some notable rarities in the form of two-piano arrangements made with Fauré?s blessing by the composer Léon Boδllmann), and what is surely the apotheosis of the mélodie genre: La bonne chanson.



Volume 4:

This fourth?and final?instalment in the series encompassing all Fauré?s songs takes as its title a line from La chanson d?╚ve, the matchless cycle which confirmed its composer?s status as the master of French song and which concludes the Hyperion intégrale.