Fauré: Ballade, 3 Nocturnes, Pélleas et Mélisande, Pénélope & Fantaisie

Doyen of French pianists Philippe Cassard made his name with the piano music of Gabriel Fauré—elegant, sophisticated, complex, and often torridly passionate creations. Fauré’s two works for piano and orchestra, the early Ballade and the late and amazingly forward-looking Fantaisie (written when he was 75), bookend a well-chosen trio of nocturnes as well as an orchestral suite from the incidental music for Pelléas et Mélisande and the glorious prelude to the opera Pénélope. Fauré’s long life embraced the worlds of Chopin, Liszt, Saint-Saëns, Wagner and numerous others, and, while completely original, his music absorbs, and renews their influences.