Faure – Berceuse from “Dolly” Op. 56 (Arranged for Violin and Piano)

Gabriel Fauré composed two famous Berceuses, of which one – in D major, Op. 16 – was conceived for violin and piano (see our Anthology of Fauré’s pieces for Violin and Piano, EP 7515). This is the other one. Composed as a piano duet, it found fame as the opening movement of Fauré’s Dolly suite, Op. 56 – and for many English speakers, as thesignature tune of the BBC’s long-running children’s programme ‘Listen with Mother’. Fauré was never a purist about transcriptions, and several of his pieces (not least his Pavane and Sicilienne) exist in various arrangments made or encouraged by Fauré, responding to performing needs of the moment. (Roy Howat)