Eduard was the brother of Hermann (1802-1855)
who, as a writer on music, had contact with Wagner, Goethe and
Heine. The other brother, Albert, had a bookshop in Paris and
kept company with Chopin, Charles Hallé and Stephen Heller.
The E minor Violin Concerto was composed
in Cologne to which Franck had moved at the request of Ferdinand
Hiller. It was premiered by another Hiller invitee, Theodor Pixis.
It is a work of streaming intensity deliciously prone to lyrical
flights akin to the Mendelssohn concerto (in the same key) but
without the ineffable surge of smiling quicksilver. The last movement
recalls a village fiddler and rustic dance floors across the continent.
The Symphony in B flat major represents
a crossroads between early Schumann and Mendelssohn. The horn
solos are very colourful and make a memorable effect although
the execution is not ideally polished or rounded. There are some
Schumann-like accelerandi like those that inject the drama into
the Fourth Symphony. You will find yourself easily hooked whether
by the fluttery athleticism of the second movement, the winsome
flute-playing of the Adagio with its momentous atmosphere
or the Mendelssohnian chasseur-style allegro writing. This
is a strong mood invoker, relaxed and Beethovenian (Symphonies
4 and 8).
Ludger Böckenhoff and Audite should take
a curtain call for their valiant advocacy of this otherwise disgracefully
disregarded figure. Meritorious and highly attractive music at
last out into the light of common day.
Rob Barnett
Christiane Edinger
(violin),