NOSPR in Chamber Mode / César Franck by Franck, Fra (2022/2022), NOSPR, Katowice, Poland

In the 19th century, string quartets were not a French specialty. Thus, it comes as no surprise that César Franck, a chamber music enthusiast, based his works, rich and replete with emotions, on German models. And although the antisemitic Wagner would certainly grind his teeth upon hearing how the String Quartet in D major uses broad melodics and complex harmonies much to his liking alongside a lightness resembling the works of the Jew Mendelssohn, one must admit that the French composer married the two opposing elements flawlessly. Over a decade earlier, Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor did not meet with either connoisseurs’ or fellow composers’ approval. Its intensive expression was something controversial and excessive. Debussy dubbed the piece “an unceasing paroxysm”. Today, it can take grasp the listener with the intensiveness if emotion and the immense, almost orchestral, sound. There are few chamber works so powerful!