LDV91

22 FAURÉ | 13 BARCAROLLES ∙ BALLADE OP.19 Do you find the Ballade for solo piano is a somewhat elusive work? It explores some highly imaginative paths, but at the same time it’s a pianistic challenge. Liszt is said to have said, when sightreading it, that he ‘didn’t have enough fingers’. There’s truth in that: from the third page onwards, to master its subtle cross-fingerings is a tour de force. An additional difficulty, for the memory, is to switch from the orchestral version to the solo piano version. How do you explain the striking contrast between the sound world of your first version of the Barcarolles and this one? I paid great attention to the question of the sound material this time. I always try to put myself in the shoes of someone who hasn’t heard this music before. Not only do I have to make sure that they can understand the piece as a whole, that the themes and counterpoint unfold ideally, but also that the sound mass is acceptable. Am I not duping my listeners with too much sound, or on the contrary boring them because there isn’t enough? Forty or fifty years ago, those aspects didn’t interest me much.