CD: FRANCK: Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, Eight orchestrations by Büsser - OOP

Out of print 1987 Schwann "Musique en Wallonie" CD holding rare orchestral music of Cesar Franck, played by Orchestre Symphonique de la RTBF. Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (What one hears on the mountain). It shares its title with the first of Liszt's symphonic poems, and certainly has a Lisztian sense of drama and might, but -- surprise! -- it predates the Liszt by two years (1846 vs. 1848). Could this in fact be the world's earliest symphonic poem? Well, since Franck never published it in his lifetime, there's not much chance he deserves credit for popularizing the genre. Call it parallel evolution. Regardless, it's gripping music, almost a smaller (22'23) version of Eine Alpensinfonie, and clearer-textured than most Franck works. Definitely a good discovery. For the rest of the CD we turn to Henri Büsser, who made orchestrations of eight pieces from Franck's L'Organiste, a collection of short works from Franck's final year. Unlike the symphonic poem, these are graceful and tune-centric, quite akin to Rossini's Sins Of My Old Age. When you listen to the fourth, I bet you'll think (I did) you were listening to a lost Bizet work! Brian Priestman conducts the first work, Alfred Walter the second. Highly recommended!

From the Fanfare review:

Franck's Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne is no masterpiece but rather a fascinating apprentice piece affording some tenebrous pre-echoes of Les Eolides (1876), Le Chasseur maudit (1882), and Les Djinns (1884). among others. The harmonic richness of the later works is still nascent, nor do the melodies yet arch into memorability, yet his materials are far more attractive than the vulgar noisy oddments of Liszt's score. But what is remarkable is the Sibelian breadth with which the 24-year-old Franck works his themes - the long, slowly building crescendos carried by throbbing triplets turning to humming tremolandos toward a final grandiose assertion. If the result is occasionally clumsy, it nevertheless embraces a genuine grandeur which almost lifts this suprising effort beyond mere curiosity. The Belgian Radio Orchestra turns in a scrappy but valiant performance accompanied by extramusical banging and thuds, captured in close sound with some reverb at the edges, poor bass definition, and grainy strings. For the remainder of the program, the reduced orchestra and the recording venue seem to be in proper proportion: sound is not only close but clear. The musicians respond with finesse to these morceaux choisis confected, one might say, by Henri Büsser from L'Organiste, a posthumous collection in two volumes of Franck's smaller organ pieces, edited by Charles Tournemire. Pithy, and often drawn from Franck's richest vein, these delectable (and neglected) miniatures piquantly suggest what his universally praised improvisations must have been like. In sum. a novel and eminently treasurable addition to the Franck discography. --Adrian Corleonis

Disc, booklet, and case are in mint condition.

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About Jimmosk's CDs
I sell high-quality, little-known works, mostly 19th- and 20th-century. Many of the CDs are used, some are still-sealed, and most are the only one of that disc I have to offer. I sell a low volume of CDs, but that way I can listen to each (except the sealed ones :-) and describe the music to give you a better idea of what you're in for before you plunge into the unknown!
-Jim Moskowitz