Don Cesar

On October 6, 1953, RCA held experimental stereophonic sessions in New York's Manhattan Center with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of New York musicians in performances of Enesco's Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and the waltz from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. There were additional stereo tests in December, again in the Manhattan Center, this time with Pierre Monteux conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In February 1954, RCA made its first commercial stereophonic recordings, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Münch, in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz.

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.

Six Pièces, Op. 16-21, composed between 1856 and 1864, were first published in 1868 by the small Parisian publishing house, Maeyens-Couvreur. Rollin Smith calls this event the first significant contribution to the French organ literature in more than a century, and the most important organ music written since the Organ Sonatas of Mendelssohn. The symphonic treatment of the Cavaillé-Coll organ with all its aural expression, and performance possibilities, was a revolution in the development of organ music, and marked the beginning of the new chapter. The premiere of Six Pièces took place on November 17, 1864 in the church of Sainte-Clotilde – performed by the composer himself. In April 1866, Franck presented the collection again during a private concert for Ferenc Liszt. As Vincent d’Indy noted: Liszt […] coming down from the organ-loft where Franck had just been playing these compositions to him, exclaimed with sincere emotion: “These poems have their place beside the masterpieces of Sebastian Bach!”

This album is a well-thought-out program devoted to Romantic composer César Franck, who we don’t hear enough. The two piano solos, the Prélude, choral et fugue (1884) and the Prelude, Aria and Finale (1886-1887), find Franck favoring the tripartite form he loved, revealing a superbly expressive composer for the piano (he was an organist by profession). Tanguy de Williencourt gets under their skin and plays with poetry (the Choral is lovely) and real sweep. Joined by orchestra for the “Symphonic Variations,” he spreads his wings and gives a very impressive performance, while the slightly spooky “Les Djinns” is full of atmosphere.

Moving music from 19th century France with Sandra Lied Haga and Katya Apekisheva.

efore ‘La Stupenda’ came ‘The Voice’! Dame Nellie Melba was Australia’s first singing sensation, and one of the most famous Australians of her day; idolised in the theatre, mobbed on the street and known by name in even the most remote corners of the country. Soprano Lorina Gore and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra salute Dame Nellie Melba, Australia’s first singing sensation.