FAURE, NOCTURNE Nº6 RE BEMOL OP.63－gwcn55527的部落格

http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/presents/information_desk/program_notes/2007/pn_richard_goode.pdf

Gabriel Fauré (–)
Nocturne No.  in D-fl at major, Op. 
Composed in .
Gabriel Fauré was an accomplished pianist, though
he never regarded himself as a concert artist. He
usually appeared as accompanist in his songs or
partner in his chamber music, performing as a soloist
principally at some of Paris’ most fashionable
salons, including those of Saint-Saëns and Pauline
Viardot. He studied piano with Saint-Saëns and to
his teacher’s precision, clarity and élan he added
a fl uidity and caressing gentleness reminiscent
of Chopin. His student Emile Vuillermoz, who
heard him play regularly between  and ,
said that “his technique was suited to his personal
charm and style.” Fauré’s  piano-roll recording
of his Barcarolle No.  for the German fi rm
of Welte-Mignon shows his playing to have been
regular yet supple (“Nuances without changing
speed,” he urged his pupils), and with an extraordinary
ability to clarify textures through the sharp
delineation of the music’s outer lines (“Let’s hear
the bass”). His playing favored expression over virtuosity,
and it was marked by the even, smooth coordination
of his hands across the entire keyboard.
(He was ambidextrous.)
Fauré composed some  works for piano
throughout his career, most in the largely abstract
forms of the Barcarolle, Impromptu and
Nocturne in order to avoid programmatic associations.
(When once asked by an admirer in what
sunny clime he had written the Sixth Nocturne,
he tartly replied, “Th e Simplon Tunnel.”) Of the
 Nocturnes, composed between  and ,
Fauré’s son Philippe noted, “Th e pieces called
Nocturnes are not necessarily based on reveries or
on emotions inspired by the night. Th ey are lyrical,
generally impassioned pieces, sometimes anguished
or wholly elegiac.” Th e Nocturne No.  in
D-fl at major, composed in , takes as its principal
theme the spacious, eloquent melody presented
at the outset, whose returns are separated by episodes
of heightened emotional expression.