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

Advertising Rates
Visitor stats
MusicWeb International
has over 21,000 Classical CD reviews on offer

Gerard Hoffnung Concerts &
The Bricklayer Story

Purchase Brilliant Classics

New Releases

New Releases

MusicWeb Recommended Recordings 2008

DISCS OF THE YEAR 2007