Modern French Pianoforte Music
1880-1900
Played by Mrs. Norman O'Neill
Although he had a very large and varied output, Saint-Saens is known to us largely by two classes of work - Opera and Orchestral music. In his Pianoforte music we find some of his most graceful writing - racy, resourceful, amiable and unceasingly fluent, with now and then a clear trace of his classical leanings.
Upon Gabriel Faure, who died in 1924, in his eightieth year, a great many official distinctions were conferred, including the rare one of a 'National Homage' at the Sorbonne in 1922, when he was elected to the highest class in the Legion of Honour. Considering that ho produced a great quantity (over 120 works) of charming music, eclectic and urbane, typical of the best qualities in French music of his day, it is somewhat surprising that comparatively little of it is commonly played here.