Franck by Franck

Grandeur there is in plenty, but also light-heartedness…this honest, impassioned performances imbues [the Symphony] with a surprising power. Integrity also shines through the playing of the symphonic. — BBC Music Magazine, July 2020, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 8th May 2020
Catalogue No: ALPHA561
Label: Alpha
Length: 67 minutes

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Franck, C: Symphony in D minor

Work length38:57

Album only

Mikko Franck, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

I. Lento - Allegro non troppo

Track length18:38

Album only

II. Allegretto

Track length10:04

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

III. Allegro non troppo

Track length10:15

$1.50

$2.30

$3.05

Franck, C: Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne

Work length28:20

Album only

Mikko Franck, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France

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Some music lovers are familiar with Ce qu’on entend sur la montagne, Liszt’s symphonic poem based on Victor Hugo. But who knows that, ten years earlier, César Franck was inspired by the same poem? This early piece is recorded here by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Mikko Franck. They couple it with the famous Symphony in D minor, dedicated to Henri Duparc and premiered, without much success, in 1889. Even if the score is quite well-known today, in the end it is performed quite rarely, which is a pity, because it really has all the characteristics of a masterpiece: melodic and harmonic inspiration, refined orchestration, variety of mood, an ingenious structure. Two works by Franck... by Franck! This album marks the beginning of a collaboration between Alpha and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, which will focus on very varied repertories.

Reviews

July 2020

Grandeur there is in plenty, but also light-heartedness…this honest, impassioned performances imbues [the Symphony] with a surprising power. Integrity also shines through the playing of the symphonic.

September/October 2020

His tempos in the Franck Symphony are normal, about the same as Monteux’s famous Chicago version, but Monteux had a more explosive and less Wagnerian idea of the piece. Franck gives us an exciting, sweeping performance where everything glows within the texture and nothing sticks out of it. It’s rich, moves beautifully, and never conveys tizzy melodrama, the way Munch’s Boston Symphony performances used to.

July 2020

The Symphony gets a fine performance here. Franck understands its logic and tensions, its balance between weight and elegance, its Wagnerian overtones and moments of sensuousness. The orchestral sound is dark yet clear...Franck balances immediacy with pace and proportion...the playing has great richness and fervour, with the woodwind and brass particularly fine in both works.

The Arts Desk 20th June 2020

Mikko Franck’s surname makes you hope he’ll do a decent job with the piece, and indeed he does, helped by a well-drilled Orchestre Philharmonic de Radio France, unashamed to let rip in the more garish climaxes. Franck’s central movement is a structural delight, nicely played here, and we really get to hear the cornets in the symphony’s closing bars.

Franck by Franck

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