Elusive masterpieces of French chamber music on the cusp of Romanticism and the modern age. Faur? was a reserved, self-effacing man particularly drawn by the intimacy of chamber music. Deeply attached to the romanticism of an earlier age, he is considered the last of the romantics. Debussy described him as a ‘ma?tre de charme’, an epithet that still rings true. During the First World War Faur? remained in Paris as head of the Conservatoire, and despite its external turmoil, this period (lasting for him until 1921, the year of the Second Cello Sonata) was the most productive of his life. His compositions of this period are notable for their force and even violence from a composer who is usually renowned for his delicacy and restraint. In fact the first movement of the First Cello Sonata is among Faur?’s most angular and assertive pieces
