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César Franck
The Belgian composer César Franck is chiefly known for his simple yet effective song Panis angelicus, a popular staple among both church choirs and vocal soloists around the world. His compositional style was often cyclic, with organically-evolving themes or motifs that return throughout the work lending a sense of unity.
Though his output is not large, his single Symphony and his tone-poems have become popular and are frequently performed by orchestras, while his Violin Sonata and solo piano works enjoy a similar reputation in the world of chamber music.
Orchestral Works
Franck's single symphony is a unique work, merging French and German compositional styles, and with an approach to instrumentation that reveals Franck's background in the organ: instruments are added and removed like organ stops, and abrupt changes seem to resemble changes of manual. Based organically and cyclically on a single opening theme, it has become enduringly popular despite an inauspicious initial reception. Marek Janowski and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande show the work off in all its Romantic sumptuousness.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
As an accomplished pianist as well as an organist, it's no surprise that many of Franck's works feature the piano in a starring role. Like the Symphony, the Variations are cyclic in form, with themes merging into one another in a fluid manner. The structure, although free and fantasia-like, resembles the traditional tripartite concerto form. Here Bertrand Chamayou shows an instinctive flair for Franck's piano writing, accompanied by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Stéphane Denève.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Le chasseur maudit is a supernatural tone-poem in the spirit of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique or Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre, telling the story of a huntsman who brings a terrible curse upon himself by going hunting in defiance of the Sabbath. Psyché sets the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche for orchestra and chorus. The BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales under Tadaaki Otaka clearly relish both the grotesquery of the former and the sensuality of the latter in these engaging performances.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Organ & Piano Works
During Franck's lifetime, the centre of gravity of the organ world migrated from Germany to France, in large part due to the innovations of Cavaillé-Coll in organ-building. It was these instruments with which Franck was familiar, and his music takes advantage of their powerful capabilities and varied colours. Here Fausto Caporali presents a survey of Franck's entire output for the instrument.
Available Format: 2 CDs
The Pièce héroïque is in many ways an organ sonata by any other name, though with an advanced harmonic language and other twists on the traditional sonata form. Equally fascinating is the transcription of the Symphony for organ - an adaptation that sounds entirely natural, given Franck's lifelong affinity with the organ. Simon Johnson (the transcriber) is a commanding performer and the organ of St Paul's Cathedral really shines.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
The last pieces Franck ever wrote, the Trois Chorals are solemn and profound works with a strong religious feeling; the Prélude, Fugue et Variation, dedicated to Saint-Saëns and perhaps the best-known of the loose series of Six Pieces composed by Franck between 1859 and 1862, seems to evoke the former's own clear, uncluttered style of writing.
Available Formats: Presto CD, MP3, FLAC
Chamber Works
Franck's substantial Violin Sonata (lasting a full half-hour) is a quintessentially Romantic work that wears its heart on its sleeve. Violinist Vadim Repin brings great sensitivity to the music, and Nikolai Lugansky deftly handles Franck's formidably difficult piano part (written, like those of Rachmaninov, by a man whose huge hands let him easily reach a twelfth at the keyboard!)
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Like his larger-scale works, Franck's chamber compositions are few in number but utterly distinctive. As in the Symphony, Franck's favoured cyclic form is here a unifying factor in both works. The Fine Arts Quartet and pianist Cristina Ortiz reveal the full emotional scope of these intimate and moving pieces.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Relatively early works, the Trios concertants for violin, cello and piano demonstrate some of Franck's initial experimentation with cyclic form and the use of fairly small, self-contained motivic ideas as the basis for extended and substantial works. The Trio Novanta play with commitment and sensitivity.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
Choral Works & Operas
With such a long and distinguished career as a church musician, it was not surprising that Franck should write a setting of the Mass. His three-part composition seems to prefigure the imposing works of Widor and Vierne, but on a smaller scale. The well-loved Panis angelicus was incorporated into the Mass by Franck as a Communion motet. The Debrecen Kodály Choir under Salamon Kamp make a convincing case for this largely-neglected Mass setting.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
A moving setting of the traditional Seven Last Words, masterfully sung by the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne under conductor Michel Corboz. This recording is of the transcription for organ and chamber choir.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
A large-scale work based on the Sermon on the Mount, Les Béatitudes explores the eight Beatitudes in poetry and music for almost two hours, and is scored for a substantial orchestra, choir and eight soloists. Here Helmuth Rilling and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra show Franck at his most expansive.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
A convoluted romantic intrigue, Stradella was Franck's first opera, written in his early twenties. It shows him already to have been a master of the Italianate style and capable of writing memorable melodies. The Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera of Wallonia and an all-Flemish cast under Paolo Arrivabeni do the honours.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
Jaco Van Dormael's watery staging (with the same forces as the CD recording) plays on the Venetian setting of the drama. In a bold step, he also alters the plot substantially (from a happy to a tragic ending), but retains the full original score by altering the finale into a video projection of the protagonists in the afterlife.
Available Format: DVD Video
David Smith - Head of Digital
