Franck Symphonic

Still in his twenties, Pétur Sakari studied in his native Finland and in Paris and made his recording début at the age of 18. On his previous disc for BIS, he performed works by five French composers, receiving international acclaim with top marks in Diapason as well as on the Klassik-Heute website.

Multi-instrumentalist Franck Carducci (bass, keyboards, guitar, drums, etc.) grew up in a family where music is a way of life. At the age of 5 he made his first experiences with a Hammond organ, proceeded to learn the guitar later on and joined the first rock band when he was 14 years old. Little by little, he strived towards music that, while still being accessible, is also structurally more complex with different atmospheres. After becoming infatuated with bands like Pink Floyd and Genesis he embedded progressive rock into his heart and his soul.

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

César Franck’s Rédemption (1873) is a pivotal work. It is an “ode-symphony”, coming at the crossover point between oratorio, opera and symphonic poem – a vein brilliantly exploited by Franck in Psyché (1888) and Les Béatitudes (1891). Rédemption also marks a further progression: with this vast fresco César Franck became “le père Franck”, leading father figure in the new French compositional school, the composer of maturity, creator of Le Chasseur maudit (1883), the Variations symphoniques (1885) and Les Éolides (1885). Here we see the organist becoming a virtuoso in handling grand orchestral or vocal forces and taking his place amongst the major composers of the Symbolist period.

The most brilliant of Belgian composer César Franck's compositions were written during the final decade of his life; the Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra, the famous Violin Sonata, the D major String Quartet, and, perhaps most important, the Symphony in D minor are all the products of a single, remarkable five-year period. The Symphony, by no means an immediate success with critics or audiences, has nevertheless become so fused with the popular image of César Franck that it is nearly impossible to think of him without also thinking of this 40-minute orchestral juggernaut. And yet the work is by no means an empty audience-pleaser: as with all of his final compositions, the Symphony shows a superb synthesis of Franck's own uniquely rich harmonic language and cyclic themes with the traditions of Viennese Classicism that he had come to revere later in life (principally through the music of ).

In July 1997, conductor Kurt Masur and actress Marthe Keller – together with Chœur La Psallette and the Orchestre Mondial des Jeunesses Musicales – delivered a performance of Franck’s Psyché unlike any other in recorded history. Expanding on Masur’s vision, Keller’s immersive narration added to the impact of this rarely-heard symphonic poem for chorus and orchestra. This powerful performance is the latest release on Verbier Festival Gold and it’s out now.