César Franck - Complete Chamber Music

A little-known Franck
Legend has it that César Franck (1822-1890) did not really find himself until the 1870s. This would be to ignore a huge part of his career as a composer! Barely younger than his model and mentor Franz Liszt (1811-1886), whom he met in 1837, he began, like Liszt, to experiment with new musical forms at a very early age, and throughout his life he let his inspiration speak for itself without limit. His chamber music is, in this respect, one of the most fascinating markers of his artistic trajectory, the essence of which has yet to be rediscovered.

A prodigy in spite of himself?
Like Leopold Mozart, Nicolas-Joseph Franck - a failed musician and now an embittered bank clerk - set out to turn his two sons, César and Joseph, into musical prodigies. César enrolled at the age of 8 at the Liège Conservatory, where he quickly won his first prizes in solfege and piano and immediately began a career as a piano prodigy. In 1835, the family left Belgium for France and, in 1837, it was at the Paris Conservatoire that young César perfected his training. He quickly made a name for himself there, surprising all his teachers, even the very intransigent Cherubini - the director of the institution - with his exceptional qualities both at the piano and in theory. By one of those beautiful ironies of which history has the secret, it is at the organ that he disappointed his examiners, obtaining only a second prize. However, it was on the organ that he was to shine throughout his life, quickly becoming the titular organist of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, then of Saint-Jean-Saint-François (today the Cathedral of the Holy Cross of the Armenians), before obtaining the coveted organ loft of Sainte-Clotilde. In 1871, the Conservatoire wanted to offer him the organ chair to replace his own teacher, François Benoist. It was for this reason that he applied for French nationality. Encouraged by this - somewhat belated - institutional recognition, he discovered a second youth and created some of his most famous works.

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CD 1
Quintette en Fa mineur pour piano et cordes
Grand Trio pour piano, violon et violoncelle en Ut mineur
Trio avec piano en Si bémol majeur "Trio de salon" Op.1 n°2

CD 2
Duo concertant sur des motifs de Gulistan de Dalayrac en Si bémol majeur
Trio avec piano en Fa dièse mineur Op.1 n°1
Trio avec piano en Si mineur Op.1 n°3

CD 3
Melancolie en Mi mineur
Quatuor à cordes en Ré Majeur
Andantino quietoso en Mi bémol majeur, Op.6

CD 4
Sonate pour piano et violon en La majeur
Trio Concertant en Si mineur, Op.2 n°4
Solo de piano avec accompagnement de quintette à cordes en Mi majeur

Ensemble Des Equilibres

   Artistic direction and first violin  -  Agnès Pyka
piano  -  Sandra Chamoux
cello  -  Damien Ventula
cello  -  Jeremy Genet
violin  -  Marie Orenga
viola  -  Emmanuel Haratyk
double bass  -  Rémi Demangeon