Hyperion Records

The Nocturne No 5 in B flat major, Op 37, is contemporary to the second Valse-caprice. The first phrase could only be Fauré, beginning in B flat major and ending in D major. The turbulent middle section in B flat minor (a rare key in Fauré’s music) has swirling arpeggios, and transforms the second of the opening themes in a most imaginative way, even presenting it at the climax in B major. As in all of Fauré’s music, there is a grace combined with a contained strength behind every note. He was always complaining that people played his music in the half-light. According to his son, Fauré played with ‘an iron hand in a velvet glove—and what velvet!’

from notes by Angela Hewitt © 2013