Richard Franck - Orchestral Works (Christopher Fifield)

Information

Composer: Richard Franck

1. Symphonische Fantasie, Op. 31
2. Serenade für Violine und Orchester, Op. 25
3. Suite für Orchester, Op. 30: I. Präludium
4. Suite für Orchester, Op. 30: II. Marsch
5. Suite für Orchester, Op. 30: III. Reigen
6. Suite für Orchester, Op. 30: IV. Finale
7. Liebesidyll 'Amor und Psyche', Op. 40
8. Serenade für Violoncello und Orchester, Op. 24
9. Wellen des Meeres und der Liebe, Op. 21

Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen

Christopher Fifield, conductor

Date: 2008

Label: Sterling

https://www.sterlingcd.com/catalogue/cds1078.html

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Review

The German Audite label has been a friend to the works of Franck, father and son. This has nothing to do with César. We are talking here about Eduard and Richard, father and son. Audite’s commitment extends to four CDs of the father’s music and one of the son’s (see below). Eduard’s music shattered no shibboleths but it was intensely tuneful in the lively manner of Mendelssohn – perhaps with the occasional zest from Schumann and the Elysian voice of Beethoven heard intermittently. Richard Franck is also a romantic-conservative – at least he is judging by these works. He seems to have had no truck with the expressionists or the first stirrings of dissonance. For him the Grail lay with Schubert and Brahms with a modicum of Schumann.

 

Audite have given us one CD of Richard’s chamber music (92.522 - see review). It is reviewed on this site by the conductor of the present Sterling release. Bo Hyttner’s Sterling label now allow us to hear, in superbly polished and exuberant performances, a cross-section of Richard’s orchestral works. To date it’s unique though there is certainly plenty of material for a second and even a third CD.

 

There’s no symphony or concerto here but the Olympian symphonic manner is alive in the opp. 21 and 31 works. The Symphonische Fantasie has the mien of the first movement of a symphony. It veers between the harp-decorated himmlische vision of Schubert’s Great C major and Brahms’ Fourth. It’s a much better than capable piece of work – and is only let down by a surrender to the obligatory Teutonic fugal episode at 6.32. The orchestra appear rapt and at the close the brass benches deliver a romping aureate roar which gladdens the heart.

There are two Serenades here. The one for violin is placidly Beethovenian in the manner of the two Romances. The cello one is again pacific in its humour and the solo line foreshadows the main melody in Korngold’s Cello Concerto. The four movement Suite is charming – toasty warm, in fact with its Griegian cool flute in the Präludium and a wheezy Magyar-inflected Marsch. The Liebesidyll - Amor und Psyche lives up to its name. It lacks the sensuality of César Franck’s Psyché but it is sweetly intoned with Bruch taking a handsome bow. The cello acts as a sort of ‘precentor’ at the start. The concert overture could hardly have a more romantic title but do not expect anything like Rachmaninov. Franck’s pantone admits of melody with undulant unjagged contours but the language is firmly locked between the poles of late Schubert and late Brahms. It’s all very pleasant, at times strikingly beautiful and not at all folksy.

 

There’s plenty more to record including a Symphony in D minor from 1905 (manuscript), three piano concertos (1880-1907), a Prelude to a romantic play (1926) and a 1906 Violin Concerto. All in due time!

 

There is just that undercurrent of complacency in this music which some might condemn as reactionary. It is there but is not at all damaging. Only once does the mask slip – and that is when the plaguey and irritating fugue in the Fantasie puts in an appearance. Otherwise serenely-shaped Germanic romance. Bring it on.

 

-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

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Richard Franck (3 January 1858 – 22 January 1938) was a German pianist, composer and teacher, the son of composer Eduard Franck. Richard studied at the Leipzig Conservatory with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. During the course of a long career, Franck held teaching positions at conservatories in Germany and Switzerland. Although did not reach the front rank amongst his contemporaries, he was well respected as a concert artist and as a composer. His compositions are mainly for solo piano; however, he also wrote orchestral and vocal compositions, as well as a considerable amount of chamber music.

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

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Christopher Fifield (born 1945) is an English conductor and classical music historian and musicologist based in London. He studied at the University of Manchester and at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. Fifield is known for his exploration of neglected compositions and records for the Swedish label Sterling many world premieres, often from the 19th century Romantic repertoire. He is the biographer of Max Bruch and Hans Richter, edited the Letters and Diaries of Kathleen Ferrier and wrote a meticulously researched history of Ibbs and Tillett, the artists and management agency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Fifield

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