Anne Sofie von Otter: The complete "La bonne chanson Op. 61" (Fauré)

La bonne chanson (Op. 61):
I. Une sainte en son auréole 00:00
II. Puisque l'arbe grandit 02:08
III. La lune blanche luit dans les bois 04:03
IV. J'allais par des chemins perfides 06:26
V. J'ai presque peur, en vérité 08:19
VI. Avant que tu ne t'en ailles 10:39
VII. Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été 13:41
VIII. N'est-ce pas? 16:21
IX. L'hiver a cessé, la lumière est tiède 18:50

Fauré, Gabriel (1845-1924) -composer
Anne Sofie von Otter -mezzosoprano
Bengt Forsberg -piano
Nils-Erik Sparf -violin
Ulf Forsberg -violin
Matti Hirvikangas -viola
Mats Lidstroem -cello
Tomas Gertonsson -double bass

Score: http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imgl...

Playlist "The art of French song: Faure, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, Satie...":    • The art of French song: Faure, Debuss...  

Having completed the Five Venetian Songs, Gabriel Fauré wrote a friend feeling that he had just about exhausted for himself the musical potential of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Luckily for the history of the song cycle, Fauré was to return once more to the French poet, composing the nine-song cycle La bonne chanson. Later in his life Fauré was to claim that he had never written anything as spontaneously as La bonne chanson.
Fauré carefully selected certain poems and even stanzas from Verlaine, reordering them to tell the story of a young couple in love. The cycle begins with "Une Sainte en son aureole" (A saint in her halo). Fauré's overall tonal plan in the cycle is highly idiosyncratic, and even within songs the harmonic sequences are often surprising. Fauré unifies the cycle instead with five musical motifs, the first of which, a lyrically descending melody, is heard at the beginning of "Une Sainte"; it returns both at the end of the song and of the whole cycle. The setting is lighthearted, establishing the uncharacteristically (for Fauré) happy mood of the composition. "Puisque l'aube grandit" (Since daybreak grows) follows, also in triple meter. The accompaniment plays dramatically broad arpeggios against a legato melodic line. The more serene "La lune blanche" (The pale moon) is third, with even more pronounced chromaticism, in the rare key of F sharp major. The fourth song, "J'allais par des chemins perfides" (I went down some treacherous paths) shifts to F sharp minor; it contains the most harmonic contortions as well as a further realization of an ascending bass-voice motif appearing at the end of the previous setting. "J'ai Presque peur, en verite" (I almost fear, in truth) is the first song of the cycle in duple meter. Fauré sets the text, a confession of love, in wonderfully anxious phrases. "Avant que tu ne t'en ailles" (Before you leave) uncharacteristically wavers in its tempo between a lyrical adagio and impetuous allegro. The arpeggios return in "Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'ete" (So, it will be on a clear day of summer); a less-complicated mood follows in "N'est-ce pas?" (Is it not so?) with long vocal phrases. The ninth and final song, "L'Hiver a cesse" (Winter has ended), combines all the motifs of the work in an exuberant and colorful finish.
At the time considered revolutionary for its harmonic procedures, La bonne chanson has since been enshrined in art song repertoire. Fauré later arranged the piano accompaniment for piano and string quintet, but confessed to a friend that he preferred the original. Lyric baritone Maurice Bages premiered the cycle in April 1894, accompanied by the composer. Inspired by love, Fauré cast his usual caution to the wind in creating a vibrantly original work; the result, in the words of scholar Jean-Michel Nectoux, "reaches the proportions almost of a vocal symphony."

Source: http://www.allmusic.com/composition/l...

Buy the CD here: http://www.deccaclassics.com/en/cat/4...