The genius revealed in Franck’s fiery visions

Julian Haylock introduces two works which totally changed the reputation of the Belgian-French composer

- Julian Haylock

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of César Franck’s birth, this month’s cover CD features two of his most celebrated orchestral works: the D minor Symphony and the symphonic poem Le chasseur maudit (‘The Accursed Huntsman’). Born in Liège in 1822, but based in France from 1844, Franck’s reputation until he turned 50 was built mainly on his remarkable skills as an organist, extemporiser and pedagogue, with only a handful of notable pieces to his name. That all changed when, in 1871, the newly formed Société nationale de musique, an organisation set up to promote French music in the wake of the Franco-Prussian war, embraced Franck (along with Fauré, Chabrier and Saint-Saëns) as one of the leading composers of his generation.

Whereas French orchestral music of the period tended increasingly towards the colourful and picturesque, Franck was a died-in-the-wool traditionalist. Accordingly, he established his creative credentials with a series of masterworks in genres that had a decidedly AustroGerman look and feel about them. There were organ chorales, a Piano Quintet, Violin Sonata and String Quartet, two solo piano works entitled Prélude, Aria et Final and Prelude, Choral et Fugue, a series of symphonic poems including Le chasseur maudit, the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, and the Symphony.