After quite a bit of traveling the last months, having concerts also in Austria, one in Wien Musikverein (Mozart Requiem) and one in Lilienfeld, I am now in France, to lead three operas and play a quartet concert. It is the town of Baugé in the valley of Loire. It is already the fourth season that I am doing, and the first with a really nice orchestra.
Of course the main thing are the operas, however for me the most interesting and perhaps important will be the second half of the concert on the 4th of August. For this concert I had to choose work(s) by a french composer and so we will play the gorgeous monumental quartet by Cesar Franck.
Well, Franck was born actually as a Belgien but became french later, so yes he was French after all. And his magnificent music, if french, belgian or whatever, is simply amazing!
After working on most of the music written by his friend Ysaÿe, it is most interesting to work on this quartet. The whole atmosphere of this music showing the friendship not only between the two men but their music is absolutely amazing because it’s completely different composition technically. Ysaÿe’s use of chromatic mixed with whole tone technique and the many „violinistic“ passages, and Franck‘s syncopation all the way throughout the piece are quite different but still, there is something deep inside their music that makes them similar.
As this was I think one of his last work, I am sure that my impression of a kind of Requiem is not far from the truth, even with the dark but extremely virtuosic scherzo. All four movements have this dark moments, even the beautiful slow movement.
I am looking very much forward to this concert!