Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Jean-Luc Tingaud - Franck - Orchestral Works (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

César Franck was a childhood prodigy who gained later renown as an organist and teacher. His compositions received scant attention until the success of Le Chasseur maudit, a symphonic morality tale that vividly portrays the ‘accursed huntsman’ from his defiance of the Sabbath to a dramatic chase and a horrific fate. Les Éolides is infused with Wagnerian colours and depicts the mythological Aeolids as they reawaken nature with their song. Franck’s lushly orchestrated final symphonic poem Psyché expresses the power of love in dreams and a passionate union.

"Though his Symphony has passed down into the major orchestral repertoire, Cesar Franck enjoyed little critical concert hall success as a composer during his lifetime. Even today his final symphonic poem, Psyche, composed just three years before his death in 1890, is seldom heard. Divided into three parts and containing eight sections, it relates a version of the Orpheus myth of Psyche and Eros that has a happy ending, the lovers drifting to heaven in each others arms. Rather unexpectedly from Franck, there are highly charged passages clothed in vivid colours, this extended score lasting some forty-eight minutes calling for a mixed chorus to be added to the orchestra in the Second and Third Parts. It receives a vivid performance, the conductor, Jean-Luc Tingaud, drawing superb playing from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The disc opens with a work that has remained in today’s concert programmes, Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman), an earlier symphonic poem that relates the Count who blasphemes by ignoring the church bell and goes out hunting on the Sabbath Day. He is accursed, his punishment being to ride for eternity on his wild steed. I have never encountered such a vivid reading. The release also includes Les Eolides whose survival has largely come as convenient ‘filler’ on CD releases of the Symphony. It too looked for a literary source to provide its inspiration, this time relating the mythological women who awaken nature with their song, Tingaud is equally persuasive in creating the work’s pastel colours. To all of this add the fabulous sound engineering, and I will not be surprised if it proves to be my record of the year." (David’s Review Corner)

TRACKLIST

César Franck (1822 - 1890):

1Le chasseur maudit, FWV 441

Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 1 (Version for Choir & Orchestra):

2Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 1 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): I. Le sommeil de Psyché
3Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 1 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): II. Psyché enlevée par les zéphyrs
4Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 2 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): III. Les jardins d'Eros
5Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 2 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): IV. Amour! Source de toute vie!
6Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 2 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): V. Psyché et Eros
7Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 3 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): VI. Amour, elle a connu ton nom
8Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 3 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): VIIa. Souffrances et plaintes de Psyché
9Psyché, FWV 47, Pt. 3 (Version for Choir & Orchestra): VIIb. Souffrances et plaintes de Psyché

César Franck:

10Les éolides, FWV 43



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