One is never too old to learn! I thought I was pretty
familiar with the compositions of César Franck but I have to
confess I was not aware until now that he composed any piano concertos
(and the first two reference books to which I turned make no mention
of them). I was even more surprised to learn that he wrote this second
concerto at the age of 13 (his first concerto is presumably lost) and
that it is listed as his opus 11.
The piece certainly has curiosity value. The writing
for both piano and orchestra is fluent and assured. The virtuosic piano
part is clear evidence that, as a pianist at any rate, Franck was an
infant prodigy. It is in a somewhat nondescript style which contains
echoes of, amongst others, Chopin, Clementi and Schubert. There are
three conventional movements – an allegro maestoso, an adagio
and a rondo finale. Despite its limited thematic content and
harmonic development and some clumsy orchestration – particularly notable
in the overlong, repetitive first movement – the work has undeniable
charm. It bears no resemblance to Franck’s mature work except, perhaps,
in one respect. One of the books I read as a teenager and which made
a lasting impression is Cecil Gray’s The History of Music (1928).
Gray was somewhat dismissive of Franck, but I think he had a point when
he claimed that all the composer’s themes tended to hover around one
note – a tendency already apparent in this concerto.
However, filled out with thoroughly attractive accounts
of the Symphonic Variations and Les Djinns, this disc is certainly
worth a fiver or so
.
Adrian Smith
* François-Joël
Thiollier (piano), † Martijn van den Hoek (piano) with the Arnhem Philharmonic
Orchestra/Roberto Benzi