Faure: Piano Quintets 1, 2 [CD]

The Fauré Piano Quintets are not as well known as they should be. Indeed, that may be true of much of Fauré's music. It tends to be elusive, sometimes cryptic, sometimes hermetic in its construction and its appeal. But once one gets inside Fauré sound-world, one is won over. I've often said that I can recognize a piece as being by Fauré within the first two bars because his idiosyncratic use of harmony is so identifiable. That certainly is true of the Quintets. (It has always puzzled me that Fauré used to be referred to as the French Brahms. The only thing they have in common, as far as I can tell, is a predilection for using second inversion triads in the bass.) Although written fifteen years and more apart (1891/1906; 1921), the two pieces are very different but also very Fauré-esque. The Second is like a distillation, a pentimento of the First.

Both works are given subtle and musical performances here by the Fine Arts Quartet and pianist Cristina Ortiz. The Fine Arts Quartet, founded in 1946 and long resident at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, have a well-deserved reputation for music-making of the highest sort. I have positively reviewed their set of the Schumann Quartets Schumann: String Quartets Nos. 1-3 and the Mendelssohn String Quintets with violist Danilo Rossi Mendelssohn: String Quintets Nos. 1 & 2. Cristina Ortiz is a Brazilian pianist whose recording years ago of the Stenhammar concertos brought me to that poorly known Swedish composer, one who has since become an obsessive favorite of mine. To her, then, I'm grateful for that, as well as for her subtly integrated playing on this marvelous set.

Previously my benchmark recordings for the Fauré Piano Quintets had been those of Domus Fauré: Piano Quintets, but this Fine Arts/Ortiz set is easily its equal, and it's at budget price. If you are in the market for the Fauré piano quintets, snap it up.

Scott Morrison

Released in 2009, this recording has already received recognition as a classic. Scott Morrison's early and beautifully perceptive review here on Amazon was one of the first to recognize the special character of this disk. With the passage of a short time, the 2011 Gramophone Classical Music Guide described the CD as a "recording of legendary status, simply the best: an unrivaled cornerstone of the catalogue. A real gem!" This is high praise indeed as there are several other fine recordings of Faure's quintets available.

Faure (1845 -- 1924) composed his two piano quintets late in life. He worked on the Quintet No. 1 in d minor, op. 89, for many years before he finally completed it in 1906. The work was dedicated to the famous violinist Eugene Ysaye whose quartet performed the premiere. Faure composed the Quintet No. 2 in c minor op. 115 in 1919-1921. These quintets, both products of the 20th Century, are elusively romantic. The emotional range moves from melancholy to hard-won hope. As with other Faure chamber music, the piano quintets demand repeated hearings to appreciate. The surface of the works is lyrical and accessible but the music is subtle. The part writing is close and intricate, harmonies and rhythms change repeatedly, and passages of solo playing alternate with ensemble sections and counterpoint. The music flows seamlessly through its many changes of direction. Keith Anderson's liner notes offer good movement-by-movement descriptions of each work. These descriptions do not adequately capture what the listener hears in terms of their internal flow and unity.

The three-movement d minor quintet has a long slow movement as its heart which begins quietly in individual voices and works to a large climax before fading away. The two outer movements follow a similar pattern beginning gracefully and moving imperceptibly through related themes to intensify the music and then end softly and recessively. The opening movement, "molto moderato" seems to my listening a variation throughout on similar musical material. The finale, also a moderatly paced movement, works from a melancholy theme to a short triumphal conclusion in the major key. This is a bittersweet work.

The four movement c minor quintet is even more closely-wrought and introspective than its companion. This quintet too has a lengthy, highly developed slow movement for its third movement as its climax which follows a quick almost Mendellsonian scherzo. There are many intricate themes developed and varied in the opening movement, including an austure fugual passage in the middle. The concluding movement begins with the melancholy feel that characterizes the work as a whole before reaching a large full-voiced conclusion in the major key.

The Fine Arts Quartet playes this music with feeling and romanticism. The Brazilian pianist Cristina Ortiz plays with both delicacy, especially in the arpeggio passages which open both quintets, and power. The ensemble work is critical to this music and the five performers fuse their parts together. The Fine Arts Quartet is a venerable group with a history of more than 50 years. The current group which itself has a long history of playing together consists of Ralph Evans and Efim Boico, violins, Yuri Gandelsman, viola, and Wolfgang Laufer, cello.

There are two other Fine Arts Quartet recordings of late 19th -- early 20th Century chamber music that compliment this CD. The first of these CDs includes the piano quintet, with Ortiz, and string quartet of Ceasar Frank. Franck: String Quartet; Piano Quintet These works are much more overtly dramatic and passionate than Faure's subtly elegant compositions. The second companion CD includes to the two rarely-performed string quartets of Saint-Saens, Faure's teacher and mentor. String Quartets The Saint-Saens quartets show a composer of surprising depth. They reveal that Faure and Saint-Saens came to learn from and influence each other throughout their lives.

These three recordings, Franck, Faure, and Saint-Saens, offer a trilogy of French chamber music. The Faure quintets form the center. The CD was recorded in December, 2007 at the Purchase College Theater, New York.

Robin Friedman