It is rather odd to have the music of both Gabriel Faure and Vincent d’Indy in a concert of "Images", as their music exudes anything but images. Both composers were essentially innovators, half-Romantics who, disillusioned with the stale excess of the music at that time, sought to further their art with the resources of the past. If they did bring up an image, it is one of Gallic restraint through the lens of the future, a world of modal scales and Georgian chant clothed by the new.
Faure’s music, while deceptively charming, is often infused with an advanced mastery, rather unique to his person. The intricate counterpoint of melodies above unusual modal harmonies has been duly noted, likened to the curves and gestures of beautiful women (by Claude Debussy, no less). There is also a sense of malleable time, the way he unexpectedly prolongs a melody into a new sweetness, laden with space. His music, such as his Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, has often been compared to the Art Noveau paintings, characterized by feminine curves and intertwining strands which seem to give and take in their shape.
D’indy, in stark comparison, was a stubborn man, rigid in his beliefs compared to the more accepting Faure. He liked Beethoven and Wagner so much that he refused to ally himself with the new generation, calling it degenerate (unlike Faure, who got along with everyone). While his music still retains some of that French suppleness, it is imbued with a German romanticism; a sense of tight structure and conscious counterpoint. There is a tinge of a pastorale in some of his works, such as Variation on a Fresh Mountain Air.
Ah the curves and brushstrokes. See if you agree with us on our choices, and seek out your own perhaps.