Franck and Liszt Chamber and Piano Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: César Franck, Franz Liszt
Label: Philips
Magazine Review Date: 11/1991
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 432 142-2PH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Quintet for Piano and Strings |
César Franck, Composer
Borodin Qt César Franck, Composer Sviatoslav Richter, Piano |
| Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses, Movement: No. 4, Pensée des morts |
Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer Sviatoslav Richter, Piano |
| Harmonies poétiques et réligieuses, Movement: No. 9, Andante lagrimoso |
Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer Sviatoslav Richter, Piano |
| Ave Maria (Die Glocken von Rom) |
Franz Liszt, Composer
Franz Liszt, Composer Sviatoslav Richter, Piano |
Author: Robert Layton
Some time ago I was registering surprise that the Franck Piano Quintet, a cornerstone of French chamber music, had been so rarely recorded in recent years. However, EMI recently transferred to CD Jean-Philippe Collard's 1983 version with the Muir Quartet coupled with a fine performance of the Prelude, choral et fugue. As I said in my August 1985 ''Quarterly Retrospect'', ''These players convey all the ardour and intensity of the Quintet and may indeed be able to persuade listeners who find its unrelieved passion all a bit too overpowering to rediscover its undoubted strength''. They were, however, hampered by a rather hard and unsympathetic recording, and CH in his review of the reissue thought it ''two-dimensional and hardish in sonority''.
This new version by Sviatoslav Richter and the Borodin Quartet, made even earlier (in 1981) in the Puskin Museum, Moscow, suffers a similar handicap. Those who have heard the beautifully rounded sonority produced by the Borodin in the flesh will hardly recognize them here; there is no bloom and their tone sounds dry and wanting in timbre, although by judicious pedalling Richter manages to counter the dry acoustic. The performance itself is totally dedicated and inspires much the same verdict as that accorded the EMI: Richter is particularly marvellous—indeed, in a class of his own. If the acoustic did justice to the sonority we know the Borodin command this would sweep the board. My ears normally adjust to less-than-sumptuous or dated sound but in this instance they did not.
The three Liszt pieces are another matter. They are of slightly later provenance (1984) and made in a different venue, while the (much better) recording emanates from Bavarian Radio. Richter's playing has a sense of self-communing Innigkeit that is positively awesome and his admirers will surely feel this disc worth having for the insights he brings to these works. At over half an hour's music it is possible to argue that they alone are worth the outlay (they are altogether special), while in the case of the Franck Quintet you may be able to adjust to the sound better than I did. Whatever you decide, I should remind you that the classic Curzon account on Decca is at mid-price, and very generously coupled with the Dvorak Piano Quintet. It must remain the general recommendation.'
This new version by Sviatoslav Richter and the Borodin Quartet, made even earlier (in 1981) in the Puskin Museum, Moscow, suffers a similar handicap. Those who have heard the beautifully rounded sonority produced by the Borodin in the flesh will hardly recognize them here; there is no bloom and their tone sounds dry and wanting in timbre, although by judicious pedalling Richter manages to counter the dry acoustic. The performance itself is totally dedicated and inspires much the same verdict as that accorded the EMI: Richter is particularly marvellous—indeed, in a class of his own. If the acoustic did justice to the sonority we know the Borodin command this would sweep the board. My ears normally adjust to less-than-sumptuous or dated sound but in this instance they did not.
The three Liszt pieces are another matter. They are of slightly later provenance (1984) and made in a different venue, while the (much better) recording emanates from Bavarian Radio. Richter's playing has a sense of self-communing Innigkeit that is positively awesome and his admirers will surely feel this disc worth having for the insights he brings to these works. At over half an hour's music it is possible to argue that they alone are worth the outlay (they are altogether special), while in the case of the Franck Quintet you may be able to adjust to the sound better than I did. Whatever you decide, I should remind you that the classic Curzon account on Decca is at mid-price, and very generously coupled with the Dvorak Piano Quintet. It must remain the general recommendation.'
Franck and Liszt Chamber and Piano Works
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