Franck: Great Organ Works, Vol. 2

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César Franck (1822-1890)The Great Organ Works Vol. 2Long regarded as inconsistent, with many of his allegedly old-fashioned works left gathering dust in libraries, Cesar Franck, along with contemporaries such as Alkan, at last seems to be recovering from relative neglect. The centenary of his death aroused little interest. Although Liège, his birthplace, redeemed itself by organizing a major international symposium, beyond the very limited circle of organists there was no particular enthusiasm. Nevertheless his work is becoming more widely known, subject now of a variety of musicological studies.Questions must arise about Franck's personality and his very slow artistic development, his place in any particular national school and in the great aesthetic movements of his time, the exact nature of his religious inspiration, or the technical or expressive difficulties encountered in the performance of his compositions. Late nineteenth-century observers, notably Widor, described him as an indulgent, middle-class fellow, with a little culture, no ambition and scant awareness of his genius. The view put forward by disciples such as Vincent d'Indy and Tournemire, however, presents him as an exemplary Christian, extremely devout, with idealised charity. The poem by Augusta Holmès, written in reaction to the shock of his death, similarly portrays him as the epitome of a loving father and virtuous artist. Franck was in thrall to this little red haired Irishwoman, worshipped his young pupil Clotilde Bréal, and wrote a passionate Piano Quintet, of which his wife disapproved. There is, therefore, speculation about his character, his habitual modesty and rather dull life, spent either in an organ-loft, lacking any great prestige, or with his Conservatoire students. There is at least enough known about him to appreciate the ambiguity of his character, in view of the seeming sensuality of works such as Psyche or the Violin Son la. Critics diverge too in their views of the basis of Franck's inspiration, to some German, to others essentially French. In fact his work shows traces of both, with neither dominant. His tendency towards instrumental writing undoubtedly reflects German taste. A brilliant pianist, his models were Beethoven and Liszt and, from the 1870s, he felt the attraction of Wagner, as did virtually all Paris, despite the political situation.Like his chamber, orchestral and piano music, Franck's organ music shows various German influences in twelve compositions written between about 1859 and 1890, grouped as Six Pièces (1862, published 1868), Trois Pièces (written for the inauguration of the Trocadéro organ in 1878) and Trois Chorals (completed in 1890). Even a summary analysis yields evidence of Bach's influence. Indeed, from the 1860s, following Boëly's lead, French composers such as Benoist, Chauvet, Niedermeyer and later Loiret, admitted their debt. Though Franck himself saw fugue