Credits:

Heinrich Schiff

Description:

Franck is widely known as one of the leading French composers of the 19th century. He was a musical prodigy who studied piano and organ in both his birthplace, Belgium, and France. Although he failed to make his mark as a piano virtuoso, as an organist he established himself and settled in France as a teacher and organist. Like Bruckner and Messiaen, he was a devout Christian, and his music has a unique spirituality. It is composed with abundant use of chromatic scales, long, curving melodic lines, and highly characteristic counterpoint. This new recording contains three CDs of Franck's organ works, divided into three categories: spiritual, symphonic, and romantic organ pieces. French organist Olivier Pennant is the principal organist at the famous St. Clotilde's Church in Paris, where Franck himself is the organist and where this recording was made.