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Donald Macleod follows the dramatic thread running through Gabriel Fauré's musical output. Today, after years of waiting, Fauré is granted his heart's desire - a settable libretto.

Fauré's operatic ambitions dated back to his early 30s, but it was not till his mid-60s that opportunity finally knocked and presented him with the young playwright René Fauchois, who would give him the means to turn his dream into reality. Fauchois had just finished a piece called Pénélope about the relentlessly faithful wife of the hero Ulysses, who in the days before SatNav took 10 years to reach home after the Trojan War. Perhaps Fauré saw himself as a kind of musical Ulysses, but for whatever reason, the scenario stimulated his creative juices for the five years it took him to complete the opera - a magnificent and, these days, sadly neglected work. Aside from Penelope, another important woman in Fauré's life at this time was Marguerite Long - the pianist who became his greatest champion. As Director of the Paris Conservatoire, Fauré denied her the position of Professor of Piano (Alfred Cortot got the job), but despite any personal animosity she may have felt, long retained a lifelong loyalty to his music.

Impromptu No 5 in F sharp minor, Op 102
Marguerite Long, piano

Pénélope; Act 1 scenes 7-10
Jessye Norman, soprano (Pénélope)
Philippe Huttenlocher, baritone (Eurymaque)
Gérard Friedmann, tenor (Léodès)
Jean Dupouy, tenor (Antinoüs)
Alain Vanzo, tenor (Ulysse)
Jocelyne Taillon, mezzo-soprano (Euryclée)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo
Charles Dutoit, conductor

Nocturne No 6 in D flat, Op 63
Marguerite Long, piano

Pénélope (Act 2, scene 2)
Jessye Norman, soprano (Penelope)
José van Dam, bass (Eumaeus)
Alain Vanzo, tenor (Ulysse)
Jocelyne Taillon, mezzo-soprano (Euryclée)
Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo
Charles Dutoit, conductor

Preludes, Op 103 (No 2 in C sharp minor; No 6 in E flat minor; No 4 in F)
Kathryn Stott, piano

Producer: Chris Barstow.