Fauré's Mélodies rearranged

Gabriel Fauré, one of the most famous French composers of the fin de siècle, mainly wrote vocal, piano and chamber music. And he was a master of the "mélodie française".
The Critical Urtext Edition, which is currently being published by Peters-Verlag, has set itself the goal of organizing the composer's songs as reliably as possible, taking cycles, collections and groupings into account and making coherent stylistic developments within the songs clear - which is obviously proving to be an editorial challenge due to the abundance and quality of the available sources.

The result is an edition that is appealing in every respect: a volume of Vocalises (2013, EP11385) has been published to date, which Fauré composed during his time as director of the Paris Conservatoire for his students as sight-singing exercises, but also as "basic voice training exercises for a flexible voice". 45 Vocalises were composed between 1906 and 1916. Although their practical purpose is evident, one can often sense the composer's pen in their melody and harmony, although in my opinion most of the pieces fall short of Fauré's elegant, confident and captivating song compositions.

Volume 1 of the Complete Songs, published in 2014, contains 34 early songs by Fauré. The collection includes compositions from 1861 to 1882 and contains some of the best-known songs such as Au bord de l'eau and Après un rêve. Volume 3 was published in 2015 with 17 songs based on texts by Verlaine; and volume 2 is planned for fall 2016. With reservations, there is already talk of a 4th volume in 2017.

Common to all volumes is a detailed preface (trilingual fr/dt/en) with information on sources and editorial procedures as well as notes on the edition and performance and details on the genesis of the individual works. The song texts are prefixed to the mélodies in French, English and German translation. The sheet music itself invites you to read, play and sing: It is easy to read and user-friendly, and a Critical Commentary, this time in English only, can be found at the end of the booklet.

All volumes are available for high and medium/low voice. Accompaniment tracks are also available online - a contemporary and very useful addition. My tip: a worthwhile purchase!

Gabriel Fauré, Complete Songs 1: 1861-1882. 34 songs for voice and piano, edited by Roy Howat and Emily Kilpatrick; high voice, EP 11391a ; medium voice, EP 11391b ; Fr. 33.30 each, Edition Peters, Leipzig et al. 2014

id., Sämtliche Lieder 3: Verlaine-Vertonungen; high voice, EP 11393a; middle voice, EP 11393b; Fr. 25.90 each, 2015