"I Want a boat like that, Daddy!" - Faure's Barcarolle No. 5, nocturne 13

Although there are moments of relative calm, and the piece is strikingly beautiful, one thing is definitely certain: the boat ride Faure takes us on in his Barcarolle no. 5 is far from perfect. The use of the left hand to create lines that offer a counter-argument to the soaring lines in the right is perhaps the most salient feature of this work. Not that Barcarolles are static, but they seem to me to be a little more predictable in nature than this particular work. I like that this is less predictable, and the interesting choice of darker motivic material than what might be expected in a 'typical' Barcarolle. The entire work feels like it is subverted - a Barcarolle that isn't, but that eventually comes to a place of tranquility.

While I feel the obvious comparison for the nocturne would be one with Chopin, but I'm not sure exactly how encompassing that comparison would be. There are obviously bel canto melody lines, in places, sure, but, the work is much more textured, and more layered than what Chopin wrote in his nocturnes. There are points where the simplicity of a Chopin nocturne is emulated, but the build to climax steers this nocturne away from that. Faure's work also seems more informed by what might later be called an impressionistic mindset, although I wouldn't go so far as to say that this work is nearly that. Rather, it seems to be caught between the two.