for piano. Par KOECHLIN CHARLES. This first print is a rarity: the highly virtuoso, evocative 'Nocturne' owes its creation to an instrument that has only survived as a museum piece. Gustave Lyon, the director of the French instrument maker Pleyel, commissioned Charles Koechlin as well as several other French composers (such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel) to write works for the 'harpe chromatique' developed by him around 1900. In contrast to the common pedal harp, the chromatic harp allows for an unlimited modulatory range. Nevertheless, the instrument did not gain much acceptance and remained exotic. Koechlin was aware of the difficulty of introducing and establishing new instruments. He therefore, from the very beginning, had the piano as an alternative of equal value in mind when writing his Nocturne./ Répertoire / Piano

Par FAURE GABRIEL. Gabriel Faure 's Nocturnes, nos. 1-8. Gabriel Faure was born in Pamiers (Ariège) on 12 May 1845. Owing to his precocious musical gifts, he was able, at the age of nine, to enter the celebrated Niedermeyer School, founded in Paris to train organists and choirmasters. For about ten years he received instruction of great quality, centred mainly on the study of sacred music and the great classic masterpieces, into which he was initiated notably by Camille Saint-Saë ns, his Piano teacher. As soon as he left the school, Faure began a brilliant career as an organist. In 1896 he succeededTheodore Dubois as an organist at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris, and was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory, where his pupils included Ravel, Koechlin, Enesco and Schmitt. Meanwhile, he had met Liszt in Weimar and had been initiated into Wagner's art, which, however, never really influenced him. Appointed director of the Conservatory in 1905 after Theodore Dubois' resignation, a member of the French Institute and music critic, Faure spent his last years in solitude, suffering from an irreversible deafness that obliged him to resign from the Conservatory in 1920. He died in Paris on 4 th November 1924. The music of this sometimes misunderstood composer who wrote in nearly all genres (except Organ music) is of great refinement. An enemy of bombast, Faure put his elegant counterpoint, a highly individual harmonic style, unpredictable turns of phrase, and the secret of an unusual musical sensitivity at the service of music that is both varied and of very high quality./ Répertoire / Piano

Gabriel Fauré's Nocturnes nos. 1-8. Gabriel Fauré was born in Pamiers (Ariège) on 12 May 1845. Owing to his precocious musical gifts he was able at the age of nine to enter the celebrated Niedermeyer School founded in Paris to train organists and choirmasters. For about ten years he received instruction of great quality centred mainly on the study of sacred music and the great classic masterpieces into which he was initiated notably by Camille Saint-Saëns his Piano teacher. As soon as he left the school Fauré began a brilliant career as an organist. In 1896 he succeededThéodore Dubois as an organist at the Church of the Madeleine in Paris and was appointed professor of composition at the Conservatory where his pupils included Ravel Koechlin Enesco and Schmitt. Meanwhile he had met Liszt in Weimar and had been initiated into Wagner’s art which however never really influenced him. Appointed director of the Conservatory in 1905 after Théodore Dubois’ resignation a member of the French Institute and music critic Fauré spent his last years in solitude suffering from an irreversible deafness that obliged him to resign from the Conservatory in 1920. He died in Paris on 4 th November 1924. The music of this sometimes misunderstood composer who wrote in nearly all genres (except Organ music) is of great refinement. An enemy of bombast Fauré put his elegant counterpoint a highly individual harmonic style unpredictable turns of phrase and the secret of an unusual musical sensitivity at the service of music that is both varied and of very high quality.