Classical Music

The Eliot Quartet offers a reminiscence of C�sar Franck, the magician of sound, on it's new GENUIN album in co-production with SWR. To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Belgium's greatest composer, the multinational ensemble has combined Franck's only string quartet with his celebrated piano quintet. The friendship between the quartet and pianist Dmitry Ablogin bears musical fruit on this release, as the five musicians weave an intense web of sound between keyboard and strings in the Piano Quintet. Both works on this album testify C�sar Franck's mastery and ability to conjure vast sweeping lines in the most harmonically and melodically refined late Romantic garb!

Classical Music

"World premiere recording! Cesar Franck's first opera – staged for the first time! Known mainly for the few transcendent, harmonically adventurous instrumental works of his later years, Cesar Franck's first opera was composed when he was barely twenty years of age. Orchestrated by composer Luc Van Hove, from the autographic piano score manuscript. Paolo Arrivabeni conducts the Orchester & Chorus of the Opéra Royal de Wallonie. Stage direction by Jaco van Dormael."

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Cesar Franck’s significance for French musical life in the period of High Romanticism was considerable. He came to be regarded as one of the greatest of his time, as performer, composer, and, in due course, as professor of organ at the conservatory in Paris. Through his friendship with Liszt, Franck was encouraged to study the music of Beethoven, Bach and Wagner- three composers who each clearly left their mark on his compositions. It was especially after 1859 that Franck found his distinct voice: the new Cavaille-Coll organ, which had just been installed in the basilica of Saint Clotilde, was an important source of inspiration for the recently appointed “titulaire.” The first decades of the 19th century saw a decline for the organ in France. The abundant repertoire of 18th century French organ music had all but sunk into oblivion. What one heard for the most part was improvisation, often based on music that was popular at the time, opera in particular, and, above all, Rossini. When French music began to turn away from its hitherto one-sided focus on opera and towards chamber music and symphonic works of the 1870s, Franck was a central source of inspiration. This album features some of Franck’s greates torgan works, performed by Bjorn Boysen on the Kuhn organ in Uranienborg Church.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Here's a Franck D-minor Symphony in the classic French tradition of Paray and Munch: fast and exciting. In fact, at less than nine minutes, Tortelier's finale may very well be the swiftest ever, and tempos in both of the other movements never look back. Still, there's no trace of stiffness or lack of rhythmic flexibility. Others may well call it the "slim fast" approach or "Franck-lite," and the lack of self-indulgence does rob the quieter moments of some of their inherent mystery. I'm thinking here particularly of the symphony's opening, or the calm interlude in the finale just before the coda, where the "motto theme" returns accompanied by rich harp arpeggios, but it's not a major issue. Tortelier also isn't afraid to let the enthusiastic brass swamp the strings now and again, as at the end of the first movement's second subject, but my word, how those trumpets do ride the climaxes! In short, I'm not tossing out my favorites (aside from those listed above, these include Monteux/Chicago and Bernstein's DG remake), but this is much more than just another run-of-the-mill version.


The couplings also go well. Les Eolides has just the right skittish charm, and the Symphonic Variations pack considerably more energy than usual, though Louis Lortie's capable pianism must yield to Artur Rubinstein (RCA) and Ivan Moravec (Supraphon). I am less the impressed with Chandos' sonics. As with their recent Glinka CD, the big, reverberant acoustic works against the thrust of the performances. Something drier and crisper, with a better focus on cellos, basses, and timpani would have complimented Tortelier's approach much more readily. Nevertheless, if you love Franck's symphony, you'll enjoy this.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com