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ELOQJJENCE

FRANCK

RédemptionNocturne

Le Chasseur Maudit

Psyché

Les Éolides

Daniel BarenboimErnest Ansermet

CÉSAR FRANCK (1822-1890)

H Rédemption 13'50Morceau symphonique

[I] Nocturne 4'01pour contralto et orchestre(text: L. de.Fourcaud; orch. Joseph Guy Ropartz)

Le Chasseur mauditPoème symphonique

H Andantino quasi allegretto 3'07H L'istesso tempo - Poco più animato - Poco meno vivo 6' 17U] Molto lento 2'33H Più animato - Allegro molto - Poco più allegro - Quasi presto 4'15

PsychéPoème symphonique

[H I Sommeil e Psyché. Lento 1070EU II Psyché enlevée par les Zéphyrs. Allegro vivo 2'59EU III Les jardins d'Eros. Poco animato-Un peu plus large 4'14[w| IV Psyché et Eras. Allegretto modéré S'41

Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano EUOrchestre de ParisDaniel Barenboim

M LesÉolides T0'45Poème symphonique

L'Orchestre de la Suisse RomandeErnest Ansermet

Total timing: 71'40

In comparison with his other symphonic andchamber music, Franck's programmaticworks must be considered neglected. Withthe five late symphonic poems, which bulklarge in his mature output, this may resultfrom the fact that only two, Les Bolides andLe Chasseur maudit, were conceived fororchestra alone, whereas Les Djinns has asolo piano and Psyché and Rédemption usechorus However, the chorus is decidedlysubordinate in Psyché and both works withchorus exist in shorter, purely orchestralversions {as heard in the present recordings).

Rédemption, in its original version, was a sortof oratorio for chorus, soloist, speaker and

orchestra. Exemplifying the trend towardsrenewed piety in the wake of defeat in theFranco-Prussian war, the work takes for itssubject the redemption of mankind throughChrist and prayer. Its two parts were originallyseparated by an orchestral interlude, whichFranck soon replaced with a new 'morceausymphonique', heard here. The oratorio as awhole never achieved lasting success, and onlythis piece (to which the title Rédemption isnow applied) has remained in the repertoire.Franck characterised in a few words the idea

of the work, with its strong Wagnerianinfluence and general tendency towardseuphony: The centuries pass - Serenity of theworld which unfolds and flourishes throughthe word of Christ'.

Franck's songs, while they cannot in quantity orquality be ranked with those of Fauré,Chausson or Duparc, display another, moreintimate side of his art. Nocturne, composed in1884, is one of the most attractive. It is strophic,but subtly organised: after two identical verses,which differ on!y in details of word-setting, thethird is varied in the accompaniment and thefourth, in which the anxieties of the poet'sapostrophe to the night are banished, turnsexpansively to the major mode and preserves itsstrophic nature only by the final refrain. Theorchestration, by Franck's pupil, the Bretoncomposer Joseph Guy Ropartz, sensitively variesthe second strophe as well and provides thesetting with a sonorous richness.

Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman)is a straightforward reflection of the ballad bythe eighteenth-century German poet, G. A.Burger, which is its source. A villainousnobleman unadvisedly goes hunting on a holyday, ignoring the appeals of people and church

bells, damaging crops and endangering humanlife. He is accursed, and is hunted by demons toeternity. Hunting calls mingled with bellsprecede the terrestrial hunt which, halfwaythrough the work, is baited in its headlongcourse. Its motives are fragmented; then asinister tremolando, in a new slow tempo,introduces the curse (trombones). The demonichunt supervenes, with music of quite differentcharacter, accelerating finally to a furious prestoin which Franck gives uninhibited rein to his giftfor grotesquerie.

In the myth of Psyche, she is taken by Eroshimself as a lover. Fate decrees that she may notlook at him to know who he is; for contriving todo so, she is banished to earth until the godsrelent. Franck used the musical essence of thesubject to form three main sections: a preface,an extended love-scene, and Psyche'sbanishment and apotheosis. The openingsection contains the first two movements of theorchestral suite: Psyche's dream, a Lento languidwith syncopations, and her flight, carried by thewinds, to Eros's abode. Here the music containsa delicate allusion to Wagner's Tristan. It is alsoan apposite citation from Franck's earliersymphonic poem Les Éolides (The Breezes)

which was in turn inspired by lines from theFrench Romantic poet Leconte de Lisle: '0floating breezes from heaven, gentle breath ofbeautiful spring...' That luminous orchestraltone poem evokes the mythological daughtersof Aeolus (the god of the winds), whoreawaken nature with their song.

As with tes Éolides, the scherzando movementof Psyché contains some of Franck's mostexquisite orchestral writing; by its end, a slowerpassage with bass-clarinet solo, it has meltedfrom G major to the remote key of D flat, inpreparation for the second part. The Garden ofEros, as the urgent themes and full orchestraltexture - the first fortissimo - tell us, is no mereflower garden. But the love scene, which, in thefull version, follows a choral invocation andwarning has been interpreted (notably byVincent d'lndy) as an example of spiritualeroticism, an allegory of Christ and the Christiansoul. Certainly the myth may have an allegoricalsignificance, the pagan's reconciliation of mindand senses; but there seems no reason not totake Psyché literally. As in Berlioz's Roméo etJuliette, this love-scene is purely orchestral, aneloquent deployment of themes which, in thethird part of the full version, form the basis of a

sympathetic orchestral meditation on Psyche's

plight. Among Franck's latest works (1887-88),

Psyché has a unique beauty, using the familiar

elements of his style - sequences, chromatic

melodies, richly allusive harmonies - to ends

quite different from the urgent rhetoric of his

'abstract' instrumental music.

Julian Rushton

Wolfgang Dômling

If you would like a FREE copy of the E L O Q J J E N C E catalogue, please write to:Universal Classics & Jazz, Eloquence Catalogue, PO Box 17, Millers Point, NSW 2000

Recording producers: Gùnther Breest (Rédemption); Cord Garben (Nocturne, Chasseur, Psyche); JohnMordler (Éolides)Recording engineers: Klaus Scheibe (Rédemption, Nocturne, Chasseur, Psyché); James Lock (Éolides)Recording location: Notre Dame du Liban, February 1976 (Rédemption, Psyché), June 1976(Nocturne, Chasseur); Victoria Hall, Geneva, January 1967 (Éolides)Remastering: Emil Berliner StudiosEloquence (Australia) series manager: Cyrus Meher-HomjiCoordination: Alan NewcombeArt direction: Chilu Tong