Franck, C: Les Djinns, Op. 45

This is a collection of some quite rare works by Franck. The haunting rhythms in Les Éolides demand refinement and energy from the orchestra. In Les Djinns, the piano is a discordant voice amid a fierce and dense orchestra but in the famous Variations Symphoniques is at the heart of the work.

Following his highly acclaimed award-winning debut album on Naïve, Bertrand Chamayou collaborates with one of Europe’s leading symphony orchestras, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, to record solo and orchestral works by César Franck.

Fuelled by the desire to bring César Franck’s music out of obscurity, Bertrand Chamayou here demonstrates wonderfully why Franck’s music should be an essential element in the concerto repertory of a virtuoso pianist. The programme here features the four great works Franck wrote for the piano – each one, rarely recorded. Though ‘Prélude, choral et fugue’ and ‘Variations Symphoniques’ appear frequently in concert programmes, the other works recorded here are less well-known. ‘Prélude, aria et final’ is a genuine neglected masterpiece. Chamayou states in his booklet note that “It is an example of the quintessence of Franck’s art, a virtually perfect work”.

The scintillating symphonic poem, Les Dijnns, follows and can be said to clearly affirm Franck’s status as the direct successor of Liszt. The recording ends with ‘Prélude, fugue et variation’ - a work that possesses undeniable charm and melodic grace that has excited envy among pianists. Chamayou opts to perform the rare and delightful salon arrangement by the composer himself.

French music of the late 19th and early 20th century abounds in fine symphonies and concertos that are rarely explored. During the symphonic revival initiated by Camille Saint-Saëns and César Franck, several famous virtuosos encouraged composers to write new works that were to leave their mark on the repertoire. One of those musicians was the pianist Louis Diémer, for whom César Franck composed his famous Variations symphoniques. But we tend to forget that this masterpiece came into being largely thanks to the previous success of Franck's symphonic poem for piano and orchestra, based on a poem by Victor Hugo, Les Djinns. At a time when composers were trying to get away from the traditional image of music, it opened up a new path that others were to follow. Massenet's Piano Concerto represents the lesser-known side of a very great composer, who is remembered above all for his operas. It combines virtuosity and sensitivity, refinement and lyricism, not to forget the 'exotic' touch in the final movement, with the inspiration of Slovakian folk music.

In the past century, Jean Fournet (1913–2008), a “gentle perfectionist”, as some of the critics characterised him, was one of the leading champions of French music throughout the world. In addition to heading globally renowned orchestras (director of the Opera-Comique in Paris, chief conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra), he also left a distinctive footprint in Prague, with the Czech Philharmonic in particular. He first appeared there as a guest at the Prague Spring festival in 1954, then in January 1961, and for the last time, at the age of 90 (!), in 2003. At the time of the Iron Curtain, Fournet represented for the Czech Philharmonic a rare and precious opportunity to enter the world of French music with the most competent guide there was.

During his visits to Prague between 1963 and 1967, he and the orchestra made the enchanting and highly acclaimed recordings presented on this CD: in their “Ančerl” period, the Czech Philharmonic naturally embraced Fournet’s refinement, sense of form and purity of colours. The precious recordings, newly remastered, are being released on a Supraphon CD for the very first time. Enchanting French flamboyance a la Jean Fournet.

Melodiya offers its listeners a set of recordings by the great pianist of the 20th century Sviatoslav Richter, which reflects his diverse performing style. A 5 CD set, this will be a must for all fans of Richter.

A generous and adventurous collection of piano concertos played by the Russian Giant of the Keyboard, Sviatoslav Richter.

Next to standard concert repertoire some novelties, like the Franck, Britten, Berg and Hindemith works.

Famous conductors like Evgeny Svetlanov, Kyril Kondrashin and the recently deceased Rudolf Barshai (his favourite conductor).

One of the greatest pianists of the 20th century, Sviatoslav Richter was also one of the most self contained, enigmatic and elusive artists of the time.A fierce self-critic he seldom was happy with the results of his recordings. His criticism often embraced conductors, producers and sound engineers.

These recordings capture him a wide range of concertos from Bach to Britten, via his beloved Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (though he only recorded his concertos 1&3 and the Triple Concerto) and Brahms. Many of the recordings date from prior to the commercial releases. The Dvorak here is from 1966 and conducted by Kondrashin. The famous EMI LP with Kleiber appeared in the 1970s – Richter claimed that neither he nor Kleiber were in the best form. In the case of the Britten concerto with the composer conducting, the recording here is from 3 years earlier than the famous Decca LP. Richter was unhappy with this as Britten was apparently ill and ‘a shadow of himself’. The Brahms 2 and the Schumann are from private tapes owned by conductor George Georgescu who is at the helm in both concertos. A good example of Richter’s self - criticism can be found in his comment on his later RCA Chicago Symphony/Leinsdorf recording ‘one of my worst records…I can’t bear it’. It won a Grammy! This set also includes some of the lesser known works Richter championed - Les Djinns by Franck and the Dvorak Piano Concerto which he played more than 25 times from the 1960s to the 80s. He did more than any pianist to restore this work to the repertoire.