Le jardin de Dolly is the third movement of the Dolly Suite Opus 56 and was originally published as a piano duet. The realization score plays back at a tempo of 72 quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute. When performing the music there is an opportunity to slow down at the ends of phrases and then return to a tempo at the start of the next phrase and this approach is featured in both the realisation and the accompaniments. Gabriel Fauré’s Le jardin de Dolly is a lovely piano duet to play. Once you notice the detail of the scoring then you begin to appreciate the beauty of the writing and scoring. Use of the sustaining pedal to communicate the range of the harmonic colour is recommended and but not indicated in the sheet music score. The movement technically is not difficult to play but it does require careful reading and understanding of the contexts of the parts particularly when the melody moves to one of the inner parts. Too many duettists play this music too quickly which makes it rather abrupt as such and some of the reflective quality is lost. There are many recordings from both recent times and the recording archive which are worth exploring. The music editor was particularly impressed with the recording by Beatrice and Walter Klein who play the movement in an almost hushed secretive manner. The modal element that features in so much of Fauré’s music stems back to the fact that the composer like many French musicians was trained in the traditions of church music which referenced the old scales used particularly in the singing of plainchant. The two piano parts Primo and Secondo can be downloaded separately as “accompaniments” enabling players to enjoy an ensemble music experience playing either the Primo or Secondo part The Primo part sounds on the right channel of the stereo signal and the Secondo part sounds on the left channel. Accompaniment 1 plays at 76 quarter note beats (crotchet) to the minute, Accompaniment 2 at 72 quarter note (crotchet) beats to the minute and Accompaniment 3 at 69 quarter note beats (crotchet) to the minute. There is a 4 bar click beat before the music starts playing to give a clear pulse to players. When performing printing two pages of music on to one side of A4 offers a practical solution for players
