Faure: Cello Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2/ Elegies (Hyperion: CDA67872) [CD]

Magnificent cello playing from Gerhardt,empathetically supportive accompaniments from Licad and a wonderfully natural and atmospheric recording to boot;asking for more would be just plain greedy. Recommended. --IRR,Jan'12

A gorgeous performance of the well-known Élégie comes as the first of the five encores on this magnificent disc devoted for the most part to Fauré's two cello sonatas, the D minor, composed in 1917, and the G minor from 1921. Both are late works, written when Fauré was in his seventies, the shorter pieces being sprinkled throughout his earlier creative life, with the Élégie dating from as far back as 1880. The passion and sorrowful rapture that Alban Gerhardt and Cecile Licad bring to the Élégie are complemented by the yearning ardour of a Romance, the virtuoso flutter and bustle of Papillon, the lyrical sweep of the Sérénade and the delicate lilt of the Sicilienne, which is also familiar in orchestral guise. This disc follows on from various other, highly distinguished recordings that Gerhardt has made for Hyperion of repertoire ranging from Alkan to Schnittke and Shostakovich, from Chopin to Prokofiev and Reger, and, most recently, of encores made famous by Pablo Casals (CDA67831), on which Gerhardt also teamed up with Licad. They make a particularly fine duo here, working emotionally in unison, sensing the music's contours with like mind, breathing as one. In the two sonatas, their polished phrasing and naturally articulated lines enhance the music s structural cohesion, their feeling for moments of drama and repose is held in ideal equilibrium, and their pointing up of Fauré s individual harmonic shading is judged instinctively. On the final track, Gerhardt and Licad repeat the finale of the D minor Sonata, but at a faster tempo. Indecision about Fauré's intended speed other than the marking Allegro commodo has arisen from the unreasonably slow indication printed in the first edition. Different speeds certainly give the movement different profiles, a further bonus on a thoroughly recommendable disc. ***** --Telegraph,13/01/12

Alban Gerhardt's account of Fauré's two cello sonatas, both late works, repay careful listening. Like the works themselves, his playing and that of the pianist Cecile Licad is full of subtleties, the half-tones and inflections that make the chamber music of Fauré's final decade so elusive and fragile. Nothing here is forced or made to conform; whether it's the urgent outpourings of the first movement of the D minor Sonata Op 109 or the utterly different slow movement of the G minor Op 117, the pacing seems perfectly natural, the colouring distinctive. It's typical of Gerhardt's thoughtfulness that after the collection of earlier cello-and-piano pieces (including the well-known Elégie), which follows the sonatas, he should repeat the last movement of the first sonata at a faster tempo. Cellists disagree about Fauré's intentions; there's no doubt that the faster speed makes the music more focused, though at some cost to its introspective poetry.**** --Guardian,19/01/12

Faure's Cello Sonatas are late works, characterised by long, highly charged sequences, lyrically static, but reaching strange heights of intensity.Both, therefore, are difficult to shape and need visionary performers-which, fortunately, we have here. One has a powerful sense of Cecile Licad and Alban Gerhardt's compelling grasp of architecture. Performance**** Recording***** --BBC Music Magazine,Mar'12

Gerhardt and Licad…sound free as air, intellectually confident, full of verve, with niceties of balance and intensities never an issue; a convincing frame of colour, movement and sound in every movement, every piece. May it win friends for some excellent and still undervalued music. GRAMOPHONE CHOICE --Gramophone,Apr'12

Hyperion's superb CD features the charismatic cellist Alban Gerhardt, whose playing has been described as breathtaking , sensitively accompanied by Cecile Licad, herself an outstanding solo pianist. --Delius Society Bulletin