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Fauré: Requiem, Pelléas Et Mélisande / Jordan, Usbeck, Fuchs


Release Date: 11/03/1992 
Label:  Erato   Catalog #: 45813   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Gabriel Fauré
Performer:  Daniel Fuchs,  Gilles Cachemaille,  Mathias Usbeck,  Robert Thuillier
Conductor:  Armin Jordan
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Lausanne Pro Arte Chorus,  Suisse Romande Orchestra,  Suisse Romande Chamber Choir
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 0 Hours 53 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews

This recording has flair and a robust honesty that is immediately captivating; there is a good sense of place and of real, wholehearted performance.

Fauré’s Requiem is well known for its mellifluous, translucent ambience. The composer had a rose-tinted, almost sentimental view of death and the heavenly rest that would accompany it. It was composed in dribs and drabs almost 100 years ago, and although the idiom is strictly of the 19th century, the musical language throws its feelers well into the 20th. It is not as easy to sing as it is to listen to. The choral writing is close-knit and harmonically idiosyncratic. The treble solo in the ‘Pie Jesu’ is exposed, fragile, and rather too famous. For the baritone the Read more writing is curiously static, the orchestral accompaniment weaving around it in a way that always suggests doubtful intonation. (Add to this Fauré’s rather feeble orchestration and it might seem strange that such a piece has found so wide and appreciative an audience.) This recording has flair and a robust honesty that is immediately captivating. Mathias Usbeck is tender and expressive in the ‘Pie Jesu’, even if not flawless. The baritone Gilles Cachemaille shows admirable control. The ladies of the chorus have a pure, youthful tone that is enviable. The organ is real and sensitively positioned in the orchestral perspective. There is a good sense of place and of real, wholehearted performance. The incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande is ravishingly played. From the opening bars of the Prelude and its surging, pleading melody it is clear that Armin Jordan’s treatment of these four short pieces is anything other than incidental. Performance: 5 (out of 5), Sound: 5 (out of 5)

-- Christopher Lambton, BBC Music Magazine
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Works on This Recording

1. Requiem, Op. 48 by Gabriel Fauré
Performer:  Daniel Fuchs (Organ), Gilles Cachemaille (Baritone), Mathias Usbeck (Boy Soprano)
Conductor:  Armin Jordan
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Lausanne Pro Arte Chorus,  Suisse Romande Orchestra,  Suisse Romande Chamber Choir
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1887-1890; France 
 Date of Recording: 09/1991 
Venue:  Victoria Hall, Geneva 
Length: 35 Minutes 32 Secs. 
Language: Latin 
2. Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80: Suite by Gabriel Fauré
Performer:  Robert Thuillier (Flute)
Conductor:  Armin Jordan
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Suisse Romande Orchestra
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1898; France 
 Date of Recording: 09/1991 
Venue:  Victoria Hall, Geneva 
Length: 17 Minutes 9 Secs. 

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