After her successful CD "Joy of Bach" (arc17008), the Japanese organist Keiko Nakata presents now a recording of music by Cesar Franck. The symphonic organ music of the romantic era is closely connected to the developments of organ building during the 19th century. Keiko Nakata chooses for her recording the Merklin-Organ of the Cathedral of St. Louis of Blois, on which Franck's markings in the score can be ideally realised. Besides pieces like the Piece Heroique, there are the Three Chorals in the programme. They freely exploit the multiple possibilities of invented choral melodies. This romantic conception leading to the idea of a spiritual concert would later give birth to a new spiritual dimension in music beyond the boundaries of religious offices and rituals. As a result, the liturgical organ embedded with it's Gregorian heritage would step back to allow some space for a new style of organ playing and building to emerge, emulating the great works for piano and orchestra as manifested by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt.

Dr. Jerzy Kosmala, internationally acclaimed as a concert violist and pedagogue, has concertized throughout Europe, the former Soviet Union, Canada, North and South America, Asia, and South Africa, and has recordings on several record labels. He is a frequent guest artist and performer at the world's foremost festivals, international viola congresses, universities and academies, and is a permanent jury member of virtually all of the most prestigious international competitions, including the Lionel Tertis, Geneva, Munich, Markneukirchen, Trapani, Primrose Viola Competition, Brahms Viola Competition, and the Concert Artist Guild International Competition in New York City. In addition, Kosmala has adapted and published numerous compositions for viola and has premiered many contemporary works. A former member of the Kraków String Quartet and the renowned Eastman String Quartet, Kosmala is a former student of and assistant to the legendary William Primrose. Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University, Jerzy Kosmala currently serves on the faculty of the University of California, Irvine, and was, for several decades, a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Places: Brittany and Normandy, in Northern France, have a character all their own, preserving, as they do, ancient Celtic traditions in a countryside bounded on one side by a rocky coast-line. The great Abbey of Mont St-Michel remains a centre of pilgrimage and secular interest, and in Normandy we catch glimpses of the Bayeux Tapestry, with it's near contemporary record of William of Normandy's successful expedition in 1066 to conquer England. The Music: The music chosen for this tour of Northern France is the Organ Symphony of Camille Saint-Saens, a work written in memory of Franz Liszt that takes it's name from the use of the organ in it's grandiose final movement. The other music to be heard is an orchestral version of the Belgian-born composer Cesar Franck's Prelude and Chorale, written two years earlier, in 1884, and the Romance in C major, Op. 48, of Saint-Saens.

The prizewinning guitar duo Bluvenduo present a versatile selection of transcriptions for two guitars, several of which have never previously been arranged for this format. The freshness and sense of discovery in Schubert's Sonata in A major is a product of the music's inherent songful lyricism, perfect material for a guitar duo. So, too, is Franck's Prelude, fugue et variation, a work of variety, elegance and light textures. The three Rachmaninov Preludes provide subtly contrasting moods, while Schumann's Kinderszenen offers a wealth of intimacy, excitement and expressive refinement.

The Harrison & Harrison organ in King’s College Chapel is, like the College Choir, famous the world over. The organ case with gilded pipework, which surmounts the 16th century screen, is a striking feature of nearly every depiction of the interior of the Chapel, while the instantly recognisable sounds of the instrument have become inextricably associated with those of the Choir. In January 2016, the instrument – including its 4,300 pipes – was removed from King’s College Chapel for the most significant restoration since the 1960s. Just nine months later, the project was completed, with the famous organ secured for future generations. Recorded just a few months after the restored organ was heard in public once more, this album celebrates a voice reborn, with a varied programme of music that shows off this magnificent instrument at its very best. Unusually for such a busy conductor, Stephen Cleobury has remained active as an organist. A former president of the Royal College of Organists, he gives regular performances in the weekly recitals at the King’s Chapel, while his recordings have been championed for their virtusoity and musical insight.

Three works, three worlds-yet united by a shared pursuit: the search for that moment when music transcends itself. César Franck's youthful Trio in F-sharp minor bursts with creative energy, filled with melodies of immediate emotional force and a sense of freedom that opens the space wide. Edvard Grieg's single movement for piano trio unfolds as a circle of light and motion: tentative, glowing, shimmering-a serious game that constantly reinvents itself. And the enigmatic A-major Trio, long attributed to Brahms, speaks in a warm, expansive voice that feels familiar yet stems from an unknown hand. Together, these works form a panorama of chamber music: bold and youthful, poetic and searching, deeply rooted and full of open questions. For the E.T.A. Trio, they become a reflection of the ensemble's own musical identity: three musicians who meet in alertness, curiosity, and a shared devotion to sound-always seeking the moment when their voices merge into a living, breathing dialogue. "SWR Kultur New Talent" is a support program dedicated to outstanding young classical musicians. Over the course of three years, exceptional artistic personalities are promoted through concerts, studio productions, and extensive media presence. Following Janina Ruh, Robert Neumann, and Lionel Martin, the E.T.A. Trio now presents it's debut CD within this series.

The collaboration between Armenian violinist Nikolai Madojan and Danish pianist Elisabeth Westenholz produced a series of outstanding CDs starting with the Prokofiev Sonatas and Five Melodies (32185) in 1994. The Madojan/Westenholz duo has since been performing and recording to critical and popular acclaim. The world’s press wrote of their performances: “…Madojan…has a natural feel for the right inflexion…his is the more thought-provoking…Westenholz refreshingly tender-hearted and imaginative.” (Gramophone) “…Madojan is superb in capturing the expressive, genteel nature of the music. …His intonation is superb as well as timbre, and carefully balanced with the partnership of Westenholz.” (Intune) “…Madojan and Westenholz are a strong, articulate, well-proportioned and mutually reciprocal partnership.” (Gramophone)

The organ of the minster in the Benedictine Abbey of Zwiefalten was built in the fifties by the Biberach organ builder company Reiser. On this recording Franz Lörch presents the instrument with works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, César Franck and Léon Boëllmann.

FRANCK COMPLETE ORGAN WORKS • Hans-Eberhard Roß (org) • AUDITE 21413 (6 CDs: 411:46)


When it comes to the organ, I think it’s safe to say that César Franck is the most important composer since Bach, and here we have a survey of Franck’s organ music so complete that it would take an entire page to list the entire contents of these six discs in standard Fanfare headnote format. In fact, there’s not another collection in existence this complete—not Jean Guillou’s, Marie-Claire Alain’s, Anthony Newman’s, or anyone else’s—since whole discs full of items here are flagged as being premiere recordings, premiere recordings for organ, premiere complete recordings, or premiere complete recordings for organ. So, I have decided to describe the set’s contents on a disc-by-disc basis. Let me forewarn the reader, though, that this is a release dedicated to the doggedly determined among lovers of organ music in general and Franck’s organ music in particular.


Organist Hans-Eberhard Roß performs all 142 pieces on a single instrument, the Goll organ at St. Martin’s Church in Memmingen, Germany. I haven’t been able to find any detailed information on the organ builder, but the enclosed booklet gives the following specifications for the organ: built in 1998, it has four manuals plus pedal, controlling 62 registers. The recordings were made between 2004 and 2005 and were originally released in three two-disc sets in SACD. The boxed-up, six-disc set that came to me for review was on standard, two-channel CDs.


One criticism I will lodge about the presentation is this: the track listings for every piece give the date it was composed, the date it was published, and which of nine editions Roß uses. This last bit of information about the editions may be of interest to the musicologist or scholar studying Franck’s organ works, but more interesting to the general listener, I think, would have been a concordance of stops and registrations used for each piece, something I’ve seen in the notes to other organ recordings, and something that ought, I think, to be material to an undertaking of this seriousness.


Disc 1 starts off with a first-time recording of Pièce en mi bémol ; i.e., Piece in E?. Of course, you’d have to listen to it to know if it was major or minor, but I’ll save you the effort. It’s more or less both, opening with a chord progression that eerily anticipates the ear-curling pronouncement at the beginning of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto. This is followed by another early work, Pièce pour Grand Orgue . It’s not asterisked as a premiere recording but is nonetheless absent from current listings except for this version. Several more early works fill the first disc, all dating from between 1854 and 1856. There are five pieces by Franck originally written for harmonium and transcribed for organ by Louis Vierne, and this is their first time on record. Also a first on record is a first version of a Fantaisie in C Major. Its second version, apparently not a first on record, is also included on the disc. Roß, himself, has transcribed the harmonium piece, Quasi Marcia , op. 22, and plays it here for the first time on organ.


If it’s mainly a CD of Franck’s big organ hits you want, you would be happy with just disc 2. They’re all there in one place: the Fantaisie in C Major, op. 16, the Grand Pièce Symphonique , op. 17, the Prélude, Fugue, et Variation , op. 18, the Pastorale , op. 19, Prière , op. 20, and Final, op. 21.


Disc 3 contains no fewer than 39 short pieces collected under the heading of Posthumous Pieces for Harmonium or Organ with Pedal for L’Office Ordinaire . This spills over onto disc 4, which contains another seven pieces that are part of the same collection. The fourth disc is then filled out by Three Pieces for Grand Organ , a Petit Offertoire , and an Untitled piece, that last two of which were both originally for harmonium. The entire contents of discs 3 and 4, with the exception of the Three Pieces for Grand Organ , are flagged with three asterisks (***), referencing the fact that they are heard here for the first time complete on organ.


Disc 5 and almost all of disc 6 are occupied by Franck’s answer to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier , the sets of Pieces for Organ or Harmonium. The number seven must have held some mystical significance for Franck because there are nine sets of these pieces, each containing seven numbers, beginning with 7 Pieces in C Major and C Minor , progressing to 7 Pieces in D?-Major and C?-Minor , then to 7 Pieces in D Major and D Minor , which he subtitles, Pour le temps de Noël , and so on. The cycle stops after the 7 Pieces in A?-Major and G?-Minor , leaving the keys of A, B?, and B unexplored. There’s nothing mysterious or supernatural about the reason; Franck died before he was able to finish the project. The entirety of the Pieces for Organ or Harmonium is also thrice asterisked, meaning this is its first complete recording on organ. The final disc in the set concludes with the 3 Chorales for Grand Organ.


At first, I was a bit skeptical of how Franck’s organ music would sound on a modern, German-built instrument. It’s difficult to disassociate these works from the Cavaillé-Coll organs that inspired them. Much of this music, in fact, was composed during Franck’s tenure as organist and maître de chapelle at Sainte-Clotilde between 1858 and 1872. Of the three-manual plus pedal Cavaillé-Coll organ installed in the church, Franck is quoted as saying, “If you only knew how I love this instrument . . . it is so supple beneath my fingers and so obedient to all my thoughts.”


Concluding the 63-page booklet note by Martin Weyer (translated by Viola Scheffel) is a lengthy apologia in defense of playing these works on a Goll organ. The author twists himself in knots talking about the historical period-instrument movement and then tries to turn the argument on its head by explaining why this modern Goll instrument is an appropriate substitute for a Cavaillé-Coll organ and Franck’s music. “Upon hearing the instrument,” Weyer contends, “one will discover a lot of similarities to the sort of instrument that Franck found inspiring.” One could counter that many an organist has recorded Franck’s organ works on authentic Cavaillé-Coll instruments, and that if organist Hans-Eberhard Roß had betaken himself to France to make these recordings, he could have done likewise. But, as far as I’m concerned, the point is irrelevant. Roß is a consummately accomplished player who uses the richly variegated palette of the Goll organ to paint Franck’s pieces in an amazing array of tonal color combinations both bright and subtle, and the acoustic of Memmingen’s St. Martin church, perfectly captured by Audite’s engineers, is ideal. Franck and Cavaillé-Coll are nodding their heads in approval.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

Continuing the recording series of instrumental music by Eduard Franck which already includes his Violin Concertos Op. 30 and Op. 57, and also his Symphonies Op. 42 and Op. 47, now presents Franck's orchestral works. Once again, we hear music of the highest technical quality as well as a characteristic idiom. All were written during the 1840s when Franck set out on his career as a composer, attracting the interest of the music critics who from this time onwards were increasingly to influence musical history. The works recorded here reveal an attractive amalgamation of classicist and progressive trends, referring on the one hand to Schumann and Brahms, and on the other to Wagner and Liszt. They more than hold their own as original contributions to nineteenth century instrumental music.

E. FRANCK Piano Trios: in E; in Eb, op. 22; in D, op. 53 • Swiss Pn Tr • AUDITE 97690 (74:21)


By now, readers should be somewhat familiar with Eduard Franck (1817–1893), following half-a-dozen or so appearances he has made here on recordings mainly of his chamber works. The Audite label, in particular, though not exclusively, has taken up the dual causes of Eduard and his son Richard with 15 or so discs devoted in large part to the two composers’ chamber music output; and, being the compulsive collector of 19th-century chamber music that I am, I’m proud to say I’ve acquired every last one of them. But there’s more to Eduard Franck than quartets, quintets, sextets, trios, and duo sonatas; among Audite’s offerings have been two violin concertos, a disc of concert overtures, and two symphonies.


This latest release, containing three of Eduard’s piano trios, holds no surprises if you’ve already acquainted yourself with one or another previous Eduard Franck release, but like those that have preceded it, this disc of piano trios does hold in store just as many musical felicities.


I use the word “felicity” with intent; for Eduard studied privately with the “Felix” of Mendelssohn fame, and mostly Mendelssohn is what you get with these three trios. It’s really hard to describe how brimming over this music is with sheer contentment in untroubled, joyful song. The nonstop rippling piano parts are shot through with Mendelssohn’s nimble keyboard work, and even Franck’s melodies are consistently constructed from intervals and phrases that are dead ringers for Mendelssohn’s melodic invention. If you find Felix’s two piano trios irresistible, you will be thrilled to know that Eduard Franck composed at least four piano trios just like them.


In fact, this is Audite’s second volume of Franck’s piano trios. The first (92567), on SACD, contained the trios in E Minor, op. 11, and D Major, op. 58, performed by a different ensemble of players than the Swiss Piano Trio on the current disc, which, for some reason, did not come to me on SACD. Also, be aware that if you purchased the Naxos CD containing Franck’s sonatas for cello and violin, plus the Eb-Major Piano Trio I recommended in 36:5, the trio is duplicated on this Audite disc. No matter, though; it’s worth the one duplication to get the two additional trios included on the present CD.


This is now my third or fourth encounter with the Swiss Piano Trio on record, and each one has elicited from me the highest praise. The ensemble’s recent Audite release on SACD of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio led me to declare the Swiss Piano Trio one of the top ensembles on today’s stage in 36:6; and in a 35:1 review of Robert Schumann’s piano trios, Steven Ritter declared the Swiss Piano Trio’s Audite SACD an essential recording.


It seems only fitting that the Swiss Piano Trio, having already committed Mendelssohn’s two piano trios to disc on another Audite SACD—to which I gave an urgent recommendation in 34: 6—should now turn its attention to Mendelssohn’s musical doppelgänger , Eduard Franck. You cannot love 19th-century piano trios in general, and Mendelssohn’s piano trios in particular, and not love these trios by Franck. Considering Franck’s dates, the skewing of his catalog towards chamber works (though he did pen symphonies and orchestral scores), and his strong leaning towards a Mendelssohnian style, he bears comparison, I think, to his very close “French-though-I-prefer-to-be-German” contemporary, Theodor Gouvy (1819–1898).


I just don’t understand why previous Audite releases have been SACDs and this one isn’t. Perhaps there is a parallel SACD version, and I just happened to receive the standard two-channel stereo CD one. Anyway, with the music, performances, and recording being so beguiling, it would be churlish of me to complain. This is a must-buy recommendation.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

César Franck's Rédemption (1873) is a pivotal work. It is an "ode-symphony," coming at the crossover point between oratorio, opera and symphonic poem - a vein brilliantly exploited by Franck in Psyché (1888) and Les Béatitudes (1891). Rédemption also marks a further progression: with this vast fresco César Franck became "le père Franck", leading father figure in the new French compositional school, the composer of maturity, creator of Le Chasseur maudit (1883), the Variations symphoniques (1885) and Les Éolides (1885). Here we see the organist becoming a virtuoso in handling grand orchestral or vocal forces and taking his place amongst the major composers of the Symbolist period.

Franck’s string Quintets were written around 1845 and 1870 respectively, during a time of great demand for high-quality chamber music. Due to rapid development of bourgeois concert life, Franck proves to be one of the most original German-speaking composers of chamber music. The quintets satisfy both connoisseurs and enthusiasts alike thanks to their masterful command of contrapuntal techniques, and memorable melodic and thematic invention.