26 FAURÉ ∙ NOCTURNES The lyricism, nonchalant sensuality and refined poetry of the early nocturnes, or the simplicity, austerity and profundity of the later ones: which do you prefer as a performer? I love them all, but what I like most is to play them in succession, to view them as a cycle. They tell the story of a journey, the progress of an inner life. And yet each of them is unique. Although I’m particularly attached to the later works, which don’t have the seductive appeal of the earlier ones, the Third and the Fourth are my Proustian madeleines. The Fourth is comforting: with its constant chiaroscuro, it exudes a sense of happiness. The Fifth, the composer’s favourite, is exceptional: people often think of it in terms of its suavity and charm, but it also contains the heartbreaking bitterness which heralds the Thirteenth. It has that disarming strangeness, that elusive poetry which characterises the typically Faurean sense of being caught somewhere in between, and breathes the troubling sensuality also found in the Sixth and Eighth. Its fiery central section is the most virtuosic passage in the nocturnes. As for the Sixth, it is extraordinary for the mastery and originality of its writing and for its balance.
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