I bought a CD of Faure's piano music
I bought a CD which was sold cheaply as it was a second-hand item. I have a very old analog tape (!) on which I dubbed a record of Faure’s nocturnes plus some small pieces. I was so stupid that I did not write down the pianist’s name on it. I was not interested in the player to tell you the truth. Having studied the pieces for some years now, I became to be concerned with the pianist. I usually listen to the recording by Heidsieck on CD, but not all his performances appeal to me. I love some performances heard on the analog tape. It is after all my first experience with Faure.
I searched on the net for LPs to figure out who made a recording of complete nocturnes before 1980 and found only a few pianists did it. Luckily, quite a few of them provided me with samples and I identified the French pianist called Philippe Collard. I was however not 100% sure, so ordered the CD to validate my hypothesis.
It took me sometime to become confident of my guess. I played both the tape and CD on my car stereo as it was the only device that can play those media. I simultaneously played the tape and CD, memorizing the nuance, tempo, and articulation on each. I found it very difficult to identify them because the performance recorded on the tape was often disturbed by scratch noises. The sound quality itself was not so good. The performance on the CD was on the other hand was well recorded, free of noises. I was however sometimes found of the performances on the tape, which was milder and full of subtleties.
I reached to the conclusion that they recorded the same performances after half an hour, but I was embarrassed by the fact that I sometimes prefered to listening the music on the tape. The performances on the CD are probably too overt to express Faure’s music. I choose to play the music on the CD, though. CDs are much convenient and I do not have a player at home after all.
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