Gabriel Fauré : Élégie for cello and piano (Pierre Fontenelle / Marie Datcharry)

I had severely underestimated how difficult it is to play Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie convincingly. Two examples : Fauré asks for “Molto Adagio“, though cellist and pianist should naturally try and create an endlessly flowing sensation throughout the whole piece. The opening cantilena is played four times throughout the whole piece, and each iteration should naturally conjure up a vastly different emotional soundscape (the tragic and traumatic first outburst, the stiffled second supplication, etc.)... One can’t simply understand Fauré’s emotions, one has to truly feel them (harder said than done!). Gabriel Fauré : Élégie for cello and piano, op. 24 (1880) Pierre Fontenelle : Cello Marie Datcharry : Piano Live recording of Gabriel Fauré’s Élégie for cello and piano, filmed and recorded in Thimister-Clermont (Belgium) on the 6th of March 2021, by Védia, the regional television network.