The Gramophone Choice

Six Impromptus. Thème et ­Variations in C sharp minor, Op 73. Romances sans paroles, Op 17. Four Valses-caprices. 13 Barcarolles. Ballade in F sharp, Op 19. 13 Nocturnes. Souvenirs de Bayreuth*. Pièces brèves, Op 84. Dolly, Op 56*. Nine Préludes, Op 103. Mazurka in B flat, Op 32

Kathryn Stott, *Martin Roscoe pfs

Hyperion CDA66911/4 (4h 56‘ · DDD). Buy from Amazon

Fauré’s piano works are among the most subtly daunting in all keyboard literature. Encompassing Fauré’s entire creative life, they range through an early, finely wrought eroticism via sporting with an aerial virtuosity as teasing and light as the elements themselves (the Valses-caprices) to the final desolation of his last years. There, in his most powerful works ­(Barcarolles Nos 7-11, Nocturnes Nos 11-13), he faithfully mirrors a pain that ‘scintillates in full consciousness’, a romantic agony prompted by increasing deafness and a lack of recognition that often seemed close to oblivion. Few compositions have reflected a darker night of the soul, and Fauré’s anguish, expressed in both numbing resignation and unbridled anger, could surely only be exorcised by the articulation of such profound and disturbing emotional complexity.

The task for the pianist, then, is immense, but in Kathryn Stott Fauré has a subtle and fearless champion. How thrilled Fauré would have been by the sheer immediacy of Stott’s responses. Time and again she throws convention to the winds, and although it would be surprising if all her performances were consistent successes, disappointments are rare. Sometimes her rubato and luxuriant pedalling soften the outlines of Fauré’s starkest, most austere utterances. But such quibbles remain quibbles. The Fourth Nocturne is gloriously supple, and the 13 Barcarolles show Stott acutely responsive to passion and finesse alike. The Pièces brèves, too, are played with rare affection. Stott proves herself a stylish and intriguing pianist. 

Additional Recommendations

13 Barcarolles. Thème et Variations, Op 73

Germaine Thyssens-Valentin pf 

Testament mono SBT1215 (72‘ · ADD). Buy from Amazon

13 Nocturnes 

Germaine Thyssens-Valentin pf 

Testament mono SBT1262 (80‘ · ADD). Buy from Amazon

Four Valses-caprices. Six Impromptus. Pièces brèves, Op 84 

Germaine Thyssens-Valentin pf 

Testament mono SBT1263 (73‘ · ADD). All recorded 1956-59. Buy from Amazon

Germaine Thyssens-Valentin (1902-87) was a great and inspired pianist; occasionally one hears Fauré-playing that approaches or even occasionally equals hers, but none that surpasses it. This review could be filled with a catalogue of her qualities but her intimacy of expression demands first place. Fauré’s music has a confiding quality to it, as though it were a message intended for an audience of one, and Thyssens-Valentin is in perfect accord with this. Those messages, however, especially in the later Nocturnes and Barcarolles, are often of great profundity, and she has both the heart and the technique to convey them. 

Her sound, first of all, is wonderfully beautiful, a combination of the subtlest colour and great delicacy of touch ensuring that contrapuntal voices are in perfect balance. She’s a mistress of the most refined rubato, extreme finesse of articulation and smooth, singing line. Although she excels in quiet delicacy, her strength when required is formidable, yet even in the strongest fortissimo she never makes an ugly sound. 

She is, blessedly, aware that Fauré had a sense of humour, and not only in the frank exuberance of the Valses-caprices. Nor is she one of those artists it takes a while to get used to. On each of these discs the first track is immediately characteristic of her. The first Nocturne has immaculate voice-leading and the lightest-­fingered leggierissimo playing imaginable; the first Barcarolle is wonderfully tender, its second idea poised and liquid; the first Valse-caprice has rich fantasy, dazzling brilliance and adorable wit. 

The exploration of Fauré’s emotional and technical range through the Barcarolles and especially the Nocturnes has never seemed so absorbing, the companion on that voyage never so prodigal with insight. Truly a great pianist.