Eduard Franck article

[Alan Howe]

...at MusicWeb:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Mar/FranckE_article.pdf

The author, Andrew Hartman, ends with this statement, with which we would all, I am sure, heartily agree:

The case of Eduard Franck is a microcosm of the larger issue of the disappearance from the repertory of countless composers and their works, often of superb quality, due to factors unrelated to the worth of the music.

[Gareth Vaughan]

The author does not unfortunately discuss Franck's 1st piano concerto, other than telling us that the woodwind and brass parts were missing until about 10 years ago when a set was discovered in Rome (in the Academia di Santa Cecilia in fact). Nor is this Franck's only PC. The MS of a 2nd exists and I am fortunate enough to have a photocopy of that. May I refer interested parties to the excellent book by Paul and Andreas Feuchte, "Die Komponisten Eduard und Richard Franck", published by Pfefferkorn Musikverlag (which, alas, appears no longer to exist). The authors hold the MSS of most of the works of these two composers.

[eschiss1]

If Pfefferkorn Musikverlag was run by Nick Pfefferkorn, then he's now a managing partner at Breitkopf @ Leipzig (see Twitter) and maybe can be contacted about the fate of the Franck and other works and books Pfefferkorn-Verlag published?

[sdtom]

The case of Eduard Franck is a microcosm of the larger issue of the disappearance from the repertory of countless composers and their works, often of superb quality, due to factors unrelated to the worth of the music.

amen!!!!

[Santo Neuenwelt]

About 11 years ago, Richard Franck's great grandson Andreas Feuchte and a little later his grandson Paul Feuchte contacted us and asked us if we would be interested in reprinting as well as publishing for the first time some of Eduard's and his son Richard Franck's chamber music. We were fortunate to be able to speak at length with Paul on a number of occasions before he passed away about Richard Franck. The Feuchtes provided us with copies and in some cases manuscripts of the music. We offer the following chamber music of Richard Franck

Piano Trio No.1 in b minor, Op.20
Piano Trio No.2 in E Flat Major, Op.32
Piano Quartet No.1 in A Major, Op.33
Piano Quartet No.2 in E Major, Op.41
Violin Sonata No.1 in D Major, Op.14
Violin Sonata No.2 in c minor, Op.35

And the music of his father Eduard
Cello Sonata No.1 in D Major, Op.6
Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major, Op.42
Violin Sonata No.1 in c minor, Op.19
Violin Sonata No.2 in A Major, Op.23
Violin Sonata No.3 in E Major, Op.60
Piano Trio No.1 in e minor, Op.11
Piano Trio No.2 in E flat Major, Op.22
Piano Trio No.4 in D Major, Op.58
Piano Quintet in D Major, Op.45
String Quartet No.1 in f minor, Op.49
String Quartet No.2 in E flat Major, Op.54--World Premiere Edition
String Quartet No.3 in c minor, Op.55
String Quintet No.1 in e minor, Op.15
String Quintet No.2 in C major, Op.51
String Sextet No.1 in Eb Major, Op.41 also with special arrangement for Cello & Bass
String Sextet No.2 in D Major, Op.50also with special arrangement for Cello & Bass

We have had much enjoyment playing and performing this music ourselves. Should you be interested, you can hear lengthy soundbites on our website www.editionsilvertrust.com

[Alan Howe]

Which do you think are the stand-out pieces by Eduard?

[hyperdanny]

thanks for the heads up..I'll read the article attentively, I hope it helps me to understand better Franck, because so far this composer has been a painful exception among the UC: I have the 3 orchestral cd's and I could never find anything that was remotely memorable in them, I just get a general impression of paleness and tepidness from this music.
I listen to it, and my mind wanders..it's over, and I can't remember a note or an interesting detail.
Especially the symphonies and the ouvertures I find "meh", while I like the violin concs a little better.
I could be wrong , but so far I could not crack this nut, so to say.

[Alan Howe]

His best music probably lies in his chamber compositions. It'll be instructive to read which pieces Santo Neuenwelt thinks are his most noteworthy...

[eschiss1]

Audite and Naxos have already issued several recordings of the elder Franck's chamber works, some of which can be heard streaming on e.g. Naxos Music Library (they list 14 albums with music by Eduard  Franck, mostly chamber works) and I expect other services similarly. Have so far mostly only heard one piece - part of a string quartet, over Belgian Klara continuo- but recall even just that little bit being so good that I'll listen to some more in the next few days starting with the whole quartet (the E-flat) that scherzo was a part of. Thanks for the reminder.

[FBerwald]

I agree his chamber works are in a league of their own but one of my favorite works is his E minor Violin concerto - absolutely gorgeous and without histrionics. It might pale a bit in comparison to some better known fiery concertos but this work has lots to offer.

[sdtom]

will look into it with that strong recommendation.

[Santo Neuenwelt]

Before I mention those chamber works I feel are among his best I issue the following warning À chacun son goût -as the French like to say...

Also, you must understand that the experience of just hearing the music and actually playing it are two different things. My choices are based on having played and in a few cases performed Eduard's music. (since the question was not about Richard, I will not mention him except to say that Wilhelm Altmann's entry on him Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music is very unfair. He is somewhat kinder in his Handbuchs)

So, on to Eduard. Among the best, I would include his String Sextet No.2 Op.50. String Quartet No.3, Op.55 is also pretty good. Piano Trios Nos 1 and 4 are also worthwhile.

Articles on his chamber music and his CDs can  be found in The Chamber Music Journal http://chambermusicjournal.org/chamber-music-journal.htm

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, that's really helpful.

[gprengel]

After I heard of Eduard Franck in a recent thread for the first time I listened to a good number of his works by now. The standouts for me are:

1. Violin Concerto e-minor Nr 1, op. 30 (1855) - Fantastic - so melodic and expressive. Now one of my 8 favourite Violin concertos of the Romantic! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_cUDWn-kmY

2. String quartett #1 in f-minor (with a passionate first movement and an expressive Adagio !) (on Spotify)

3. Piano Quintett D Major, op. 45 (with a melodious and joyful first movement and a very beautiful and solemn, choral-like Andante !!)  -->
https://youtu.be/dNsU4c3M_bs

4. Piano Trio in E-Major, II. Andante

[semloh]

Gerd, many of his works - the violin concertos, symphonies and much chamber music - have been issued on the excellent Audite label. https://www.audite.de/en/download/pdf/presstext/97686-press_en_eduard_franck...