C. Franck Prélude, Aria et Final

[Alan Howe]

Just caught this on the radio played by Stephen Hough (on Hyperion). I'd forgotten entirely that I have the CD and what marvellous music this is. I couldn't place the piece at all, except that it was clearly post-Wagner. Just re-listening to it now. A masterpiece!

[thalbergmad]

The work is on the edge of my feeble attention span, but there is more than enough interesting material to keep me riveted.

I recall Bolet played it as i would like to if i could.

Thal

[adriano]

A similarly great piano "piece" by Franck" is "Prélude, Chorale et Fugue" - immortalized by Jorge Bolet, Aldo Ciccolini - but also by Sviatoslav Richter in a magnificent interpretation.
This piece has also been wonderfully orchestrated by Gabriel Pierné; there is an old Naxos recording of it.

[Herbert Pauls]

If anyone here has not heard Bolet's live performance from the early 1970s, do check it out. As tonally magnificent as the late Decca recording is, it is rather sedate, and the earlier recording really takes flight. Of course, there is also the old Cortot, which is also really something.

[chill319]

The Prelude, Aria, and Finale is not often recorded -- and somehow I'd missed the fact that Hough had a Franck CD. It's on order!

Regarding the Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue, to the other commended performances should be added the splendid and poetic one of Moravec. His was the go-to recording for a couple of decades.

Addendum: relistening to the Moravec 1962, Richter 1984, and Bolet 1994 recordings of the Franck, it was surprising how differently this strongly characterized music came out in the three performances.

[chill319]

Rarely played or recorded today, but worth a listen. Harold Bauer's piano arrangement of Franck's Prélude, Fugue, et Variation, op. 18, played here in concert by the soulful Kazakh Anna Malikova.

https://soundcloud.com/pegro-1/franck-pr-lude-fugue-et?in=pegro-1/sets/solo

A more subdued work than the  Prélude, Aria et Final, but haunting in its own way.