Fauré's Piano Quartets
The Gramophone Choice
Piano Quartets – No 1 in C minor, Op 15; No 2 in G minor, Op 45
Domus (Krysia Osostowicz vn Robin Ireland va Timothy Hugh vc Susan Tomes pf)
Hyperion CDA66166 (62‘ · DDD). Buy from Amazon
The First Piano Quartet reveals Fauré’s debt to an earlier generation of composers, particularly Mendelssohn. Yet already it has the refined sensuality, the elegance and the craftsmanship which were always to be hallmarks of his style and it’s a thoroughly assured, highly enjoyable work which could come from no other composer’s pen.
The Second Quartet is a more complex, darker work, much less ready to yield its secrets. The comparatively agitated, quicksilver Scherzo impresses at once, however, and the complete work possesses considerable poetry and stature. Occasionally one might wish that Domus had a slightly more aristocratic, commanding approach to these scores but the overall achievement is impressive, for their playing is both idiomatic and technically impeccable. The recording is faithful and well balanced.
