César Franck - Rédemption (Michel Plasson)

Information

Composer: César Franck

• Rédemption

Lambert Wilson, 

Béatrice Uria-Monzon, 

Orféon Donostiarra

Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse

Michel Plasson, conductor

Date: 1994

Label: EMI

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Review

César Franck’s Rédemption is not easily pigeonholed. It’s not exactly an oratorio, even though it employs soloists and choir and concerns itself with Godly matters. Franck himself referred to it as a Poème-Symphonie, but this doesn’t really nail it either, especially when you consider the extensive narration. Whatever it is, it represents Franck at his most ambitious–and heavy-handed. The text is the sort of quasi-religious prose endemic to 19th century art, the same kind that’s found its way, though in a more rarified form, into the current epoch in works by composers like John Tavener. Interestingly, Franck’s musical language here is closer to Berlioz than to his own Psyche, with its uniquely Franckian chromatic permutations.

In keeping with tradition, the composer assigns celestial music to the women’s voices (The Angels), but the passages for the Earthly Choir and Men’s Choir are also imbued with a sense of the ecstatic. Unfortunately, the piece tends to drag at times, and the extensive narration certainly adds to its longueurs. None of this can be blamed on the performers, however. Michel Plasson presents the music with sensitivity and persuasiveness, securing first rate playing from the Toulouse Orchestra. Béatrice Uria-Monzon sings radiantly as the Archangel, while Lambert Wilson delivers stylish and impassioned narration in French. The original 1994 EMI recording was well balanced, and sounds just fine in this remastering. Get this if you find yourself in serious need of some Gallic profundity.

— Victor Carr Jr

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César Franck (10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life. As an organist he was particularly noted for his skill in improvisation. Franck is considered by many the greatest composer of organ music after Bach. Franck exerted a significant influence on music. He helped to renew and reinvigorate chamber music and developed the use of cyclic form. He became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872, his pupils included Vincent d'Indy, Ernest Chausson, Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Guillaume Lekeu and Henri Duparc.

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Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933) is a French conductor. Born in Paris, he was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. He also studied briefly in the United States, including time with Charles Munch. Plasson served as the principal conductor of the Orchestre et Chœurs du Capitole de Toulouse for several decades (1968–2003), shaping its sound and repertoire. He is particularly admired for his expertise in French composers such as Massenet, Bizet and Berlioz, as well as for his interpretations of operas. Plasson's recordings were mainly made for EMI/Virgin, and focused upon French composers' works.

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