Faure - 13 Nocturnes [Jalbert]
Here's my Sunday morning stroll disc, i listened to these while walking through the park, all in random order, not knowing what Nocturne i was going to get next, i know the first four Nocturnes fairly well, after that i somewhat step into the unknown, and i certainly enjoyed stepping into the unknown!, the early Nocturnes are more lyrical, nice dominant tunes, easy to know and love, very Chopinesque, the later Nocturnes are more enigmatic, harder to discover their worth, their treasures are harder to dig out of the earth and to recognize, more Debussyian, and these 13 pieces are like a life Journal, spanning the whole of his composing life, we get in essence a piano autobiography of the Composer.
David Jalbert is Canadian, now 33 years of age, he certainly isn't a household name, but he's slowly making some nice discs and getting around, i enjoy Faure's piano music, so when i saw this disc in a shop, i snapped it up, it's so good to have a disc of a complete part of Faure's discography, rather than just a mere recital, and it's good to collect his music this way, also the visual front and back of the disc are extremely pleasing, Jalbert standing in front of his piano, a shot from a higher vantage point, looking down on him, one hand in his pocket, the other on the keyboard, using excellent use of out of focus on the lower body, and the lettering nicely placed and boxed in by lines, this recording was made in 2006.
Like i said above, it's really the first four Nocturnes that i found were the best gems, but... on this listen i found a new friend, Nocturne 12!, it's the one later Nocturne that i found standing out from among the pack, it's got some delicious ideas and accents to it, i gave it a careful listen, and even gave it a second play, here's my feelings about it, it's in E Minor, and what a strange way to start a piano piece!, almost a fanfare starts up, but then soon dies, and has these dying notes favoured by the Folk singer Nick Drake [0:04 & 0:20], i just love them!, the piece goes all over the place, hardly really a Nocturne as such, far removed from Chopin, after the opening, Faure uses a complex rhythm [1:05-2:08], where the music becomes more virtuoso and agitated, and there's two little sections in here where the treble right hand wails away in cascades [1:24-1:34 & 1:40-1:45], very very effective, the opening music comes back, and so does that dying note [2:25], the music changes to agitated bassy rumblings for a while [3:08+], and towards the end those dying notes are recalled with a more forte assurance [4:31 & 4:40], certainly the tunes are harder to pick out, it's more a piece of virtuoso dynamics, but the tunes are there, just more camouflaged, and Faure's little changes and soundbites are treasures when you find them, now i need to listen to some more late Faure, and do some more digging!.
Here's Sonosuke Takao playing Nocturne 12 on YouTube.
