Gabriel Fauré: Nocturnes and Barcarolles for Solo Piano

The music of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) is an important link between the innovations of late Romanticism and the experimentation of the early 20th century. In his long life, Fauré witnessed the achievements of both Richard Wagner and Alban Berg. A student of Saint-Saëns, Fauré, in turn, taught Ravel and was an influential mentor to the young modernists of Les Six, among them Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud and Arthur Honegger. The twenty-four works in this volume – twelve nocturnes and twelve barcarolles composed over a span of forty years – form a splendid musical document of Fauré’s evolution as a composer. In his first nocturne and first barcarolle, composed in his early thirties, the influences of Romanticism, of Chopin and Saint-Saëns, are felt. In the last nocturne and barcarolle, both composed in 1915, when Fauré was 70, we hear the bold, lean musical language of the 20th century.