I was asked yesterday to describe Faure's music.  Gabriel Faure? How do you describe this feathery, light, cool, warm but not overly passionate music?  All these words came into my head..impressionistic, harmonically accessible without being neo-classical, forward-looking in terms of the rhythmic and musical structure, but not taking too many risks in terms of the harmonic structures.

It feels like being inside an impressionistic painting, never gives you too much emotion, always challenges you to listen closely because he makes a point of never overstating anything.  His music is not physical or highly emotional, it is more psychological and very intellectual, without being difficult to connect with.  Faure is the beginning of the impressionistic French movement, along with some other of his contemporaries.

 I highly recommend his songs which fly around everywhere and challenge the flexibility of the singer, but are also good for vocal students learning all the important skills of control and breath development.  My favorite songs of his are "En Priere", Chanson D'amour, and my favorite of all time, "Le Secret". Le Secret by Gabriel Faure, sung by Barbara Bonney

Happy New Year, and Happy Listening!!  Let me know what you think of this song, in particular!