Faure was a reasonably prolific composer, and his many and varied works included piano pieces that have been sadly neglected. Among the works presented here are three Nocturnes; the Nocturnes Nos. 1 and 6 date from fairly early in his career, show a great deal of influence from the Romantic period, and are not at all dissimilar stylistically to those of Chopin. Much of Faure’s output looked back toward the Romantics; only fairly late in his life did any of his works begin to reflect any sense of the twentieth century he lived in, and that’s the case with the third Nocturne (No. 13) heard here. Here Faure’s work serves as a precursor and bridge to the Impressionists, Ravel and Debussy, who would soon be all the rage.
This disc served as my first experience with the French label Lyrinx. The discs’ written annotations are a bit difficult to decipher, and much of the text doesn’t offer any English translation, especially the area with all the recording’s technical information. It appears that the disc is an all DSD affair, and tube microphones and electronics were used to record the Steinway pianist Herve Billaut played to perfection. I have no quibbles with the performance; Billaut’s playing gives the sense that he knows this music intimately. My only problem comes from the all DSD recording; the piano is recorded not too close up, and you get a great sense of the halls’ acoustic, but there’s the barest trace of perceptible hiss that only slightly mars an otherwise perfect disc. Hiss on an older legacy recording is one thing, but shouldn’t happen on a new disc sourced from Sonoma equipment. I’ve not noticed a problem with hiss on any other Lyrinx recording I’ve encountered since, and they’ve used the same tube equipment noted here.
– Tom Gibbs
