Bertrand Chamayou's new CD of...

[argerichfan]

the piano works of César Franck on Naïve V 5208 .

On the strength of Gramophone's laudatory review, I just ordered this CD, and it arrived on Friday. (During my years in the UK I generally found the reviews in Gramophone to be reliable, and am pleased to find the magazine easily accessible in the US.)

So here we have all of Franck's major piano works on one convenient CD: the two great triptychs, Variations Symphoniques, the lesser known work -but quite wonderful!- Les Dijinns for piano and orchestra, and as a bonus, the Prelude, Fugue et Variation in its original format: piano and harmonium. (The harmonium is played by Olivier Latry, a luxury akin to driving a BMW 3 series a few blocks to the corner store.)

If Franck is rather out of fashion these days with non-organists, I might urge folks here to listen to the glorious Prelude, Aria et Final. It is a killer of a work -requires immense hands- but Chamayou negotiates the stretches, and all the profundity of Franck's greatest piano work with an almost scary, insolent ease. Well done.

I played the Prelude, Choral et Fugue -it was one of the greatest experiences of my life prior to tackling the organ works- but I never could handle Franck's demands in the Prelude, Aria et Final. My hands weren't big enough.

Any comments on Franck?

[retrouvailles]

(The harmonium is played by Olivier Latry, a luxury akin to driving a BMW 3 series a few blocks to the corner store.)

Haha, that is almost exactly what I thought when I downloaded this CD recently and saw the credits. I haven't listened to the CD yet, but I absolutely cannot wait to. It is the first time I have seen all of the major piano works together (with the works for piano and orchestra and solo works). It is nice to have them all in one place.