Search - Ernest Chausson, Cesar Franck, Jan Michiels :: Franck: Piano Quintet; Chausson: Piano Quartet

A LONG WAY FROM THE CHURCH

GEORGE RANNIE | DENVER, COLORADO United States | 02/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cesar Franck's Piano Quintet (written when he was 40 years old and his first, I believe, non-religious work) finds him a long way from the Church's Organ Loft. (His usual place of "musical residency"-there is an often told story that his family, after his death, wanted this Piano Quintet, of his, to be suppressed. with the family feeling that it might tarnish his religious reputation-thank god, they failed to succeed-his student(s) somehow saved the work and saw to it that it remained in the active repertoire) It is really a monumental piece of Romantic Chamber music that happens to be one of my "Desert Island" compositions. I LOVE IT! I own many recordings of the work. The performers on this recording give it a splendid reading investing it with much romantic warmth and bravura. I heard nothing "religious" in their reading-just excitement, warmth, emotion and (dare I say?) "sex appeal".



The Chausson Piano Quartet is also a very lovely romantic Chamber musical work (I'm afraid that I don't know any stories regarding this composition only that it's just beautiful). Believe me; you won't think of Chausson as a composer that is playing "hooky" from the church's organ loft. His music is lush, rich and, to me, very sensual. At least, the Spiegel String Quartet and Jan Michaels on piano play it that way!



The Spiegel String Quartet (formed as recent as 1998) and Jan Michaels on piano make a wonderful team investing these works with much romanticism and, to me, just the right amount of what I call the "French Bouquet". It certainly sounds very French to me. At all times I was fully aware that these works were by French Romantics as opposed to some other country. Lovely!



If you want to hear some of the best French romantic chamber music, believe me you can't go wrong by buying this disc. It truly contains two of the loveliest works in the aforesaid genre that are played exquisitely by these performers.



By the way, the sound on this recording is spendid!!

"

The Chausson is a stunning piece.

panicnow | 08/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is definitely one of the best pieces of chamber music I've ever heard, right up there with Chausson's own Concert in D op. 21. The second and fourth movements make the piece in my opinion, although the other two are also great. At first hearing the fourth movement was one of the most intense musical experiences I'd ever encountered. I will still wager that it, and therefore this piece overall, has the most powerful ending I know in any piece of music. I'd recommend this CD to anyone just off of that one piece, because as masterful as Faure's, Brahms' etc. are, I can't name another piano quartet I've heard off the top of my head that even comes close to the Chausson for sheer power.



The Franck Quintet is, well, an unqualified masterpiece any day of the week. Most people probably think of another certain work when they think of F minor piano quintets, but I find this one right up there with the Brahms op. 34. It certainly unwinds a lot more than that latter work, which I consider a bit too adherent to form at times.



Highly recommended to anyone."