franck piano quintet program notes haydn

Yet why would Tournemire refer to this work as the ‘king of piano quintets’ and why would Parisian audiences demand that it be played again and again? Largely because it conjures up an uncomfortable world of passion and melancholy that goes much beyond the emotional range of many of the prettier pieces written at that time.

Indeed, one can point to a lack of sophistication both string and the piano parts the themes are often pretty simple and some of the piano writing could almost be described as crude. Written in 1880, its dedicatee, famed composer Camille Saint-Seans, disowned the work on its premiere performance, leaving behind the original manuscript. Franck’s Piano Quintet did not have a good start. While there have been recordings over the years, perhaps this neglect is explainable. The Piano Quintet of the 19th C.īelgian composer, Cesar Franck, is a remarkable work yet, in years of concert-going, I have never heard a live performance of it.

The Piano Quintets of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Dvorak form the core, with occasional ventures to those of Gabriel Faure and Shostakovich. Yet most concerts feature only a handful of such works. What is most striking perhaps to someone who only knows Franck's music from the Piano Quintet of 1879 onwards is the relentlessly diatonic harmony of the early works.Ĭentral to the repertoire of any string quartet are works in which it can play alongside a piano. Excerpts: Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Grieg, Franck, Kreisler, Mozart. These changes were not able to be included in the program notes. Mozart Piano Quartet in G minor, K.496 Turina Piano Quartet in A minor, Op.

Franck piano quintet program notes haydn