Eduard Franck Piano Concertos 1 & 2

[eschiss1]

Interesting, I didn't know that the orchestral score and parts of the 2nd apparently hadn't survived...

[Gareth Vaughan]

Where do you get that information from, Eric? The MS full score of the 2nd is in the possession of the composer's great great grandson, Dr Andreas Feuchte.

[Alan Howe]

Indeed. The MusicWeb review states: <<The second Concerto is still in manuscript though Breitkopf and Härtel are planning its publication.>>

[eschiss1]

Rob Barnett's earlier review hadn't gotten that memo ("It has survived in the form of a piano reduction and manuscript from which what we hear has been extrapolated"), just as the current review seems to suggest that the first concerto was published for the first time in 2012 (not the case.)

[Alan Howe]

Well, we know what the situation is now - yes?

[eschiss1]

Yes.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I am sorry to say that Rob Barnett, enthusiastic supporter of unsung music though he is, lacks academic rigour in his writing and far too often gives inaccurate information. His reviews are full of padding and stuffed with unhelpful adjectives and adverbs, which fail to give the reader any precise description of the music he is reviewing. There is a good example of padding in the review in question where he pointlessly tells us that the notes have been in part written by Dr Andreas Feuchte, someone whom most readers will not have heard of and whose relevance to the music will not be clear until we realise he is Franck's great great grandson - a significant piece of information which Rob does not tell us. So why mention Andreas Feuchte at all, without making clear this connection? It is just padding. He also tells us the liner notes are in English and German. Wow!!!
The 1st concerto begins, according to Rob, with a "propitious drum roll". How useful is that adjective? How much more does it tell the reader than saying it begins with a drum roll?
The slow movement is described as "warmly accomplished". What on earth does that mean and how does it help one to get an idea of the music? It is, alas, empty waffle.
Some will say I have been, perhaps, too harsh in my criticism here, but Rob Barnett has done so much for the cause of unsung music, that it is extremely disappointing to find him so unself-critical as to be apparently content to put his name to such manifestly second rate writing. Only compare his review of the Franck disk with that of Mr Challinor.

[eschiss1]

btw the Breitkopf page (searching for Eduard Franck) doesn't list no.2 yet, but I'm guessing it's a matter of time.

[Gareth Vaughan]

It is all typeset and ready to go - so, as you say, only a matter of time.

[Mark Thomas]

I've at last got around to listening to the Piano Concerto No.2 and must say how impressed I was by it. A shorter work than the First, to be sure, but it packs a substantial punch. The first movement in particular has a monumentality about it which reminded me strongly of the first movement of Rubinstein's Fifth, and the contrast with the beautiful slow movement with it's delicate, almost chamber music, textures is most effective. The finale is less immediately memorable, but it still has real musical substance and is no vapid tail-chasing dash to the finish. This will definitely be one of my top ten unsung discoveries for 2021. 

[4candles]

I'm usually late to the party, but have just listened to the first movement of the 2nd Concerto. Mark hears Rubinstein's 5th. My ears hear prefigurations of Rachmaninov in its sweeping harmonic movement and even Busoni's monumental Concerto, Op.39 (3rd movement I think), in the rhythmic momentum. I have to say I feel the first movement to be slightly long but I have yet to hear the movement in the context of the full concerto, so I'm sure my impressions will change with time!

4c

[FBerwald]

What about the Double piano Concerto. is it lost?

[Gareth Vaughan]

I was not aware that Franck had written a double piano concerto. I don't think it is listed in Paul and Andreas Feuchte's catalogue of his works. Certainly Dr Andreas Feuchte never mentioned it to me in any of our correspondence. Can you let us know the source of this reference, please?

[eschiss1]

Are you thinking of another composer whose concertos have been reorchestrated of late, Thieriot, whose 2-piano concerto may- I don't know?- only now exist in its published (2-piano...) arrangement?

[FBerwald]

I'm referring to the CPO booklet notes that accompany this marvelous music - it states a Double concerto for 2 pianos composed in Cologne in 1852 and performed together with Carl Reinecke. The booklet says its lost, but we all thought Moszkowski's  1st piano concerto was lost; same for D'Albert's A minor piano concerto, but both turned up eventually. I was just wondering, if we are certain that this concerto is lost or...!?!