Eduard Franck - String Quartets Op. 54 & Op. 55 (Edinger Quartett)

Information

Composer: Eduard Franck

• (01) String Quartet in C minor, Op. 55
• (05) String Quartet in E flat major, Op. 54

Edinger Quartett

Christiane Edinger & Alexander Kortschmar, violins

Igor Budinstein, viola

Katharina Maechler, cello

Date: 2000

Label: Audite

https://audite.de/en/product/CD/20032-e_franck_string_quartets.html

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Eduard Franck (1817-93) was a pupil of Felix Mendelssohn and, like his teacher, was descended from a wealthy German family of bankers (thus, no relation to the famous French composer, César Franck). Although Mendelssohn was very impressed with his student’s work and gave him much encouragement, Franck was extremely self-critical of his music and published very few pieces in his lifetime. Of the two string quartets at hand, only the Op. 54 has a definite composition date (1847), while the Op. 55 remained unpublished until 1899. The C minor quartet’s strident and dramatic style emulates Beethoven’s Op. 95, with a driving bass line in the first movement that briefly evokes memories of the “Jaws” theme before moving chromatically upward. This type of energy returns in the finale, which, though highly varied, seems to follow some undisclosed dramatic program.

The Op. 54 quartet bears more of the lyrical influence of Mendelssohn, but is nonetheless Beethovenian in its design and complexity. A long, slow introduction leads to an allegro that exudes the learned playfulness of Beethoven’s late quartets. A deeply lamenting slow movement follows (with a quote from Bach’s St. John Passion), whose sad atmosphere is immediately dispersed by a light, dancing scherzo. The late Beethoven influence is heard again in the theme and variations finale, where Franck displays considerable technique in approaching the same material from widely different vantage points. The Edinger Quartet’s secure and enthusiastic playing communicates the love these players must feel for this music (they are particularly marvelous in Op. 54’s first movement). Audite’s warm, close recording puts you right in front of the players, making this disc a real treat for quartet lovers.

-- Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday

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Eduard Franck (5 October 1817 – 1 December 1893) was a German composer, pianist and music pedagogue. He studied with Felix Mendelssohn as a private student in Düsseldorf and Leipzig. As a talented pianist, he embarked upon a dual career as a concert artist and teacher for more than four decades during the course of which he held many positions. Although highly regarded as both a teacher and performer, Franck, as a composer, never achieved the public recognition of his better known contemporaries such as Mendelssohn, Schumann or Liszt. His chamber music is generally considered amongst his finest compositions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Franck

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Christiane Edinger (born 20 March 1945 in Potsdam) is a German violinist. She studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Vittorio Brero (1960-64), with Joseph Fuchs at the Juilliard School (1965-67), and in 1963/64, she also attended courses given by Nathan Milstein in Gstaad. Edinger made her debut as a concert violinist at the Berliner Festspiele in 1962, then her Carnegie Hall debut in 1966. This was followed by concert tours to various European countries, the USA, the Soviet Union, South America, India, Africa, China and Japan. From 1994 until her retirement, Edinger was professor at the Lübeck Academy of Music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_Edinger

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