A French pianist in French music (and, according to Decca's accompanying interview, for Pascal Roge a much-loved repertoire). The 13 Barcarolles together with the 13 Nocturnes(again, a lucky 13) are at the heart of Faure's extensive piano works, taking you on a journey reflecting Faure's early romantic and sociable nature(he was a familiar charmer in the Paris salons) on to the often strenuous and complex ambiguity of the Fifth Barcarolle and then to a darkening or the soul and imagination. Faure never fully recovered from the death of his father, had an unfulfilled marriage and saw his music neglected to the point when it was used by his publisher's wife as covers for jars of jam. Painfully, he noted Cortot's effusive descriptions of his music while playing little of it and recording even less.
As with the Nocturnes the journey is haunting and unique. There is nothing else in music quite like it and Roge is not above confessing that the later Barcarolles were initially unsettling and difficult to comprehend. In this he echoes Kathryn Stott in her 'complete Faure piano music(Hyperion) who faced a similar dilemma, finding later Faure firstly impenetrable before coming to a startling recognition, one of a near visceral impact. Thus, 'Faure is one composer I could never do without.'
The demands of such interior music are infinite and various. In his interview Roge tells how 'quality of sound is paramount,' of how he has 'a lot of imagination' seeing 'nature, temperament, the moon,' in music. But if such sentiments auger well, they are sadly in abeyance in Roge's playing. Here, phrase follows phrase, note follows note in a colourless and prosaic progression. In music call calling for the minutest shifts of dynamics and a wide dynamic range his playing moves defiantly within a narrow 'mezzo piano,' 'mezzo forte' limit. Where are the half lights and luminous textures inseparable from Faure? Roge does not come close to reflecting the nature of such intimate music, his performances remain open-ended and at times sounding as if wresting incalcitrant music from a no less unyielding stone.
Lovers of Faure, for long neglected and misunderstood, will turn elsewhere, to Kathryn Stott, to Jean-Phillippe Collard(Brilliant Classics) and most of all to Germaine Thyssen-Valentin(Tesament). For the late Michael Oliver, a much-missed colleague, Thyssen-Valentin was 'a great and inspired pianist,' 'the possessor of a unique music and pianistic finesse in Faure.'
If Schnabel is inseparable from Beethoven, Rubinstein from Chopin, Gieseking from Debussy, Thyssen-Valentin is inseparable from Faure.
Bryce Morrison