FAURÉ Thème et variations, Op. 73 - Tengku Irfan

The Thème et Variations, Op. 73 is one of Fauré’s most notable piano works. Described by pianist Alfred Cortot as the composer’s “most important composition both in actual dimensions and in character and beauty”, it is considered a classic by the French. In September 1895, Fauré wrote to a friend, “... I'm in the throes of writing the last variation… I don't know whether it's a good piece but I don't imagine I'll surprise you if I say it's very difficult.” The result was one of the composer’s most celebrated and extended piano works.
The theme is a restrained, fateful and noble march, a close similarity to Schumann’s theme in his Études Symphoniques, Op. 13. Modally inflected, in a rhythmically repetitive pattern and configured with accents on weak beats of the bar. We hear Fauré’s fondness for bass lines. Eleven variations follow, starting out with simple textural elaborations, but soon developing into further expressive lyricism and rhythmic complexities through techniques of counterpoint and fragmentation. Typical of Fauré, he avoids ending with a bombastic crowd-pleasing variation, but brilliantly exits softly, in a final meditative variation with enigmatic harmonic changes and lyrical tranquility in the major mode. As Robert Orledge writes in his biography of the composer, “It raises the whole work onto a higher, almost religious plane … the chorale rises from its serenity to a climax of transcendental intensity, making the flashy excitement of the penultimate variation seem trivial in comparison.” (Lin Tonglin)
Recorded live at the Victoria Concert Hall, Singapore, on 9 June 2023 at the 29th Singapore International Piano Festival.
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[@Colonel_Kassad]

He has a sensitive touch. Good dynamics, too.