César Franck
César Franck was born in Belgium but established his career as a composer, organist, and influential teacher in France, most prestigiously at the Paris Conservatoire and at the church of Sainte-Clotilde. His music was heavily influenced by Liszt and Wagner, as in his Symphony in D minor, one of his most famous compositions. Franck's organ pieces are among the most celebrated Romantic works for that instrument, though his symphonic poems, chamber music (particularly the Sonata for Violin in A), and sacred choral settings are also regularly performed.
Franck was born in Liège (in the French region, which in 1830 became part of a new state, Belgium), on December 10, 1822. He was a keyboard player of extraordinary ability who had a short stint as a touring piano virtuoso before moving to Paris and throwing himself into musical studies. In addition, he was an organist at several major churches during his career, and his skills on the organ accounted in great part for his compositional interest in that instrument; his organ compositions stand at the apex of the Romantic organ repertoire. For much of his life, Franck was organist at the Paris churches of Saint-Jean-Saint-François and then Sainte-Clotilde, and in 1872 he became a professor at the Paris Conservatoire. He led a group of young composers, among them d'Indy, Duparc, and Dukas, who found much to admire in his highly individual, post-Romantic style, with its rich, innovative harmonies, sometimes terse melodies, and skilled contrapuntal writing. This group, sometimes known as "la bande à Franck," steered French composition toward symphonic and chamber music, finally breaking the stranglehold of the more conservative opera over French music.
Individual and instantly recognizable though Franck's music was, it owes a debt to Liszt and Wagner, especially to the latter's Tristan und Isolde and several other late works. He tended to use rather quick modulations, an inheritance from Wagner, and shifting harmonies. There is a Germanic ponderousness in some of his compositions and a mixture of paradoxical elements so typical of the composer, such as moments of peace and serenity that barely conceal an undercurrent of disquiet. These elements were used to great advantage in the Symphony in D minor of 1888, where Franck also adapts the Lisztian-Wagnerian predilection toward cyclical structure and melodic motto to an abstract symphonic form. Another characteristic of Franck's music is extended homophonic writing, as exemplified in his choral symphonic poem Psyché.
Franck was a man of strong religious convictions throughout his life, which often motivated him to compose works based on biblical texts or on other church sources, yet his choral works were slightly less successful than his organ works. However, his religious, solo vocal piece Panis Angelicus (1872) is highly popular and frequently recorded. Franck's most lastingly successful and recognizable composition is his Violin Sonata in A (1886), which shares characteristics with the Symphony and has been transcribed for a multitude of other instruments. Franck died in Paris on November 8, 1890. By the turn of the century, he had become the leading figure associated with the "old school" in France, while Debussy came to represent the "progressive" forces.
© TiVo Staff /TiVo
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Works by Franck, Kurtág, Previn, Schumann
Música de cámara - Editado por AVIE Records el 11 nov. 2016
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Franck & Ysaÿe: Poème, Works for Violin & Piano
Clásica - Editado por Challenge Classics el 21 nov. 2013
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César Franck: 12 pièces pour grand orgue
Clásica - Editado por ALM Records el 7 mar. 2023
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In Flanders' Fields Vol. 70: Joseph Jongen / César Franck
Clásica - Editado por Phaedra el 12 sept. 2011
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César Frank - Great Works
Clásica - Editado por UME - Global Clearing House el 14 nov. 2020
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César Franck: Essential Recordings
Clásica - Editado por UME - Global Clearing House el 8 dic. 2022
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Franck and Strauss: Violin Sonatas
Música de cámara - Editado por Onyx Classics el 4 may. 2015
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Franck, Bloch and Krein: Music for Violin and Piano
Música de cámara - Editado por MSR Classics el 13 oct. 2015
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César Franck - Eugène Gigout - Louis Vierne
Clásica - Editado por Paula el 28 feb. 2016
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Franck, Lemmens, Boëllmann & Saint-Saëns: Organ Music
Clásica - Editado por Bomba-Piter el 14 may. 2015
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César Franck: Piano Quintet in F Minor - Symphony in D Minor (Live)
Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Clifford Curzon
Clásica - Editado por RHI el 15 abr. 2015
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Ulrik Spang-Hanssen - César Franck: Les Grand Œuvres Pour Orgue
Clásica - Editado por CDklassisk el 30 abr. 2013
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Franck & Lekeu: Sonates - Mathieu: Ballade, Fantaisie
Música de cámara - Editado por Analekta el 10 mar. 2009
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César Franck, Symphony In D Minor
Clásica - Editado por Classical.com Music el 1 ene. 1996
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César Franck: Sonata para Violín y Piano en La Mayor - Edvard Grieg: Sonata para Violín y Piano en Sol Mayor Op. 13
Szymsia Bajour, Aldo Antognazzi
Música de cámara - Editado por Irco Video el 4 jul. 1997
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David Nadien Plays Franck, Debussy, Fauré, Rachmaninoff-Heifetz, and Prokofiev
Música de cámara - Editado por Cembal d'amour CD 151 el 1 jul. 2010
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Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major (Classical Music Masters)
Clásica - Editado por Il Loggione Records el 16 feb. 2018
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Franck - Faure - Debussy
Dmitri Ferschtman, Mila Baslawskaya
Clásica - Editado por Globe el 7 ene. 1980
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Franck: Psyche - Variations Symphoniques - Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole - Introduction et Allegro - Debussy: Danse sacree et profane
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Phia Berghout, Geza Anda
Clásica - Editado por Intermusic S.A. el 13 ago. 2015
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Franck - Bach - Busoni - Brahms - Liszt: Variations des cimes
Clásica - Editado por VDE-GALLO el 8 may. 2014
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The New Goll-Organ of Marktkirche Hannover
Ulfert Smidt, Johann Sebastian Bach, Louis-Claude Daquin, César Franck, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen
Clásica - Editado por Rondeau Production el 12 sept. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo