Gabriel Fauré is best known for his Requiem and Pavane, but these are not typical of an output that focused largely on solo piano pieces, songs and chamber music, many of which were orchestrated by others. His Violin Concerto was never completed but the surviving first movement reveals Fauré’s characteristic playfulness with rhythm and harmony. The short Prélude to Pénélope, Fauré’s only opera, conveys the sombre and passionate moods of its heroine, heard here alongside favourites such as the poignant Élégie, the beloved Dolly and, famous among flautists, the distinguished Fantaisie.

Conductor Jean-Luc Tingaud is a regular guest in leading opera houses in Europe and the US, and his discography includes Sapho recorded at Wexford (Fonè), Werther recorded at Martina Franca (Dynamic), La Voix humaine recorded at Compiègne (DVD) and Rossini’s Le Siège de Corinthe (Naxos 866032930) recorded at Bad Wildbad. Tingaud’s orchestral recordings for Naxos include an acclaimed album of works by Paul Dukas with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland (8573296) regarded by Fanfare as being ‘at the head of the pack. We seem to have before our ears a French George Szell in the making. Tingaud’s performance of La Péri would sweep the field’.

Jean-Luc Tingaud studied with the French conductor Manuel Rosenthal. Notable opera engagements have included Pénélope and Le Roi malgré lui (Wexford Festival Opera), Roméo et Juliette (Arena di Verona), Faust (Macerata), The Turn of the Screw (Lille), Dialogues des Carmélites, La Bohème and Madama Butterfly (Pittsburgh) among others. Orchestras he has conducted include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini, the Warsaw and Kraków Philharmonics, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, Orchestre National de Lyon, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the orchestras of the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa and the Teatro Massimo, Palermo.

Making his Naxos debut with this recording, violinist Pierre Fouchenneret’s commitment as a soloist and as a chamber musician has seen him much in demand at venues around the world, his ‘extraordinary bow’ (Le Figaro) rapidly seeing him collaborating with exceptional musicians. As a founding member of the Strada Quartet and others he has been involved in recordings of chamber music by Beethoven, Brahms, Fauré and Schumann.

From its foundation in 1948 as the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra has been at the forefront of symphonic music in Ireland. Today, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra plays a central role in classical music in Ireland through year-long programmes of live performances, schools and educational projects, broadcasts, recordings and new commissions. The orchestra has been critically acclaimed for its recordings across labels including Naxos, Claves and RTÉ Lyric FM.