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Track(s) taken from CDA67872

Sérénade, Op 98

composer
1908; possibly as an engagement present for Pablo Casals

Alban Gerhardt (cello), Cecile Licad (piano)
Recording details: October 2010
Concert Hall, Wyastone Estate, Monmouth, United Kingdom
Produced by Rachel Smith
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: January 2012
Total duration: 2 minutes 48 seconds

Cover artwork: Landscape at Cagnes. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Private Collection / Photo © Lefevre Fine Art Ltd, London / Bridgeman Images
 

Reviews

‘Gerhardt and Licad sound as 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 place for every movement, every piece’ (Gramophone)

‘Visionary performers … one has a powerful sense of Alban Gerhardt's compelling grasp of architecture’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Gerhardt and Licad make a particularly fine duo here, working emotionally in unison, sensing the music's contours with like mind, breathing as one’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘Like the works themselves, Gerhardt's 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’ (The Guardian)

‘An arrestingly beautiful survey … this repertoire has been explored frequently and by some of the best, but seldom more persuasively than here … from every standpoint, Gerhardt's accounts of the sonatas seem exceptional, with their assured technical mastery and uncanny depth of insight … magnificent cello playing from Gerhardt, empathetically supportive accompaniments from Licad and a wonderfully natural and atmospheric recording to boot … recommended’ (International Record Review)

‘Both cello sonatas are rolled out effortlessly and with an abundance of colour … other short cello works, the delicious Élégie included, pad out this sizeable, and very satisfying, offering … a super recording’ (The Scotsman)

‘Alban Gerhardt has arrived at the ideal marriage of Fauré's refinement, essential reticence and the passion that lies just beneath the surface of the two cello sonatas’ (Yorkshire Post)
Fauré’s last short piece for cello and piano was the Sérénade, composed in 1908, possibly as a gift to Casals on his engagement to the Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia (the two were never married). The piece is unequivocally middle-period Fauré, with its unsettled harmonies, interweaving melodic lines and refusal to fall into tidy compartments. Casals wrote to the composer: ‘The Sérénade! it’s delicious—every time I play it, it seems new, it’s so attractive.’ And indeed it reveals its beauties only with repeated playing or listening.

from notes by Roger Nichols © 2012

La dernière petite pièce pour violoncelle et piano de Fauré est la Sérénade, composée en 1908, peut-être en guise de cadeau pour Casals lors de ses fiançailles avec la violoncelliste portugaise Guilhermina Suggia (ils ne se sont jamais mariés). Cette pièce appartient sans équivoque à la période médiane de Fauré, avec ses harmonies non résolues, ses lignes mélodiques entremêlées et le refus de tomber dans des cases bien définies. Casals a écrit au compositeur: «La Sérénade! Elle est délicieuse—chaque fois que je la joue, elle paraît nouvelle, elle est tellement jolie.» Et en fait, elle ne révèle ses beautés qu’en la jouant ou en l’écoutant à plusieurs reprises.

extrait des notes rédigées par Roger Nichols © 2012
Français: Marie-Stella Pâris

Faurés letztes kurzes Werk für Violoncello und Klavier war seine Sérénade, die 1908 entstand und möglicherweise ein Geschenk an Casals zu dessen Verlobung mit der portugiesischen Cellistin Guilhermina Suggia (die er jedoch nicht heiratete) war. Das Stück entstammt unmissverständlich der mittleren Schaffensperiode Faurés: die Harmonien sind unbeständig, die melodischen Linien sind miteinander verwoben und es lässt sich nicht eindeutig einordnen. Casals schrieb an den Komponisten: „Die Sérénade! Sie ist köstlich—jedes Mal, wenn ich sie spiele, scheint sie neu, sie ist sehr hübsch.“ Und tatsächlich tut sich die Schönheit des Stücks erst richtig auf, wenn es mehrmals gespielt oder angehört wird.

aus dem Begleittext von Roger Nichols © 2012
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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