Franck: Complete Masterworks for Organ

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Michael Murray's teacher was Marcel Dupré, whose own teacher was Alexandre Guilmant, who was a friend and colleague of Franck. When it comes to organ music, these things matter. The French organ school is the greatest contemporary representation of organ performance and composition. Names like Franck, Widor, Vierne, Tournemire, Dupré and Messiaen read like a "who's who" of great composers for the instrument. Franck's organ music got the ball rolling, and Murray plays these wonderful pieces on an authentic 19th-century French organ constructed by the master himself, Aristide Cavaille-Coll. Add Telarc's state-of-the-art sound to this pedigree, and the result is a first-class recommendation. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Fantasy In A
Cantabile
Piece Heroique
Fantasy In C Major, Op.16
Prelude, Fugue And Variation, Op.18
Priere,Op. 20
Final In B-flat Major, Op. 21

Tracks:

Pastorale, Op. 19
Grande Piece Symphonique, Op. 17
Chorale 1 In E Major
Chorale 2 In B Minor
Chorale 3 In A Minor

Amazon.com

Michael Murray's teacher was Marcel Dupré, whose own teacher was Alexandre Guilmant, who was a friend and colleague of Franck. When it comes to organ music, these things matter. The French organ school is the greatest contemporary representation of organ performance and composition. Names like Franck, Widor, Vierne, Tournemire, Dupré and Messiaen read like a "who's who" of great composers for the instrument. Franck's organ music got the ball rolling, and Murray plays these wonderful pieces on an authentic 19th-century French organ constructed by the master himself, Aristide Cavaille-Coll. Add Telarc's state-of-the-art sound to this pedigree, and the result is a first-class recommendation. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Good Franck Offering.......2005-12-03

Michael Murray gives a nice performance of Franck based on his instruction from Dupre. The registration schemes often come from the Dupre tradition, while other performances have just as vital connections with different registration schemes. I personally like the use of the flue choruses where others might include those wonderful but sometimes monotonous reed sounds more often. Demesseiux's fabled Franck cycle resembles Murray's in registration. One reviewer may be correct...little passion, certainly when compared to the superb Alain recording at Caen. However, listen to Dupre and one won't find passion there, either. The music is served quite nicely, anyway. I find Murray's performance engaging and accessible (I am NOT an organist.) I think the organ was miked awfully close and for my taste, Murray's more recent recording of Franck, Widor and Dupre at Ste. Sulpice, while also miked very closely, gives an inviting, clearer sound, particularly since Murray uses the mixtures to unusually nice effect for that instrument. The Franck cycles I've heard over the past 30 years each has its own merits, and Michael Murray's is an equally fine offering.

Wonderful music, great organ, performance fine.......2005-05-24

The other reviewers for this offering have found fault with Michael Murray's performance and the organ tuning. I may be tone deaf or something, but I have no complaint with either of these issues.

The Cavaille-Coll instrument at St. Sernin comes out in this recording really magnificent with great miking by Renner and his recording team. I can listen to this recording at very high levels and it is clear and well defined, as compared with the Telarc-Murray recording at St. Sulpice, which is muddy and somewhat ill-defined. I listen to these two discs frequently and enjoy them each time.

Sometimes I can not believe all of us reviewers are discussing the same performance, but this is how folks can get a viewpoint on recordings before spending their money on them.

No fault of his own..........2004-09-09

I thoroughly enjoy Michael Murray's style of playing and his interpretations of the great organ works he has committed to recording. It pains me, then, to see a recording such as this released on an INSTRUMENT that, while lauded as one of the greats, sounds painful at times through the duration of the recording. The tuning is at times, horrendous and blatantly displayed. I cite specifically track 3 on CD #1, The Piece Heroique (8:00 minutes) as a prime example of either this organ's apparent neglect or its simple lack of tuning. In short, my hesitation in buying the album would stem only from the aforementioned problems and not from the interpretation or performance. Why another organ could not have been used or why these problems could not have been rectified before the recording is beyond me.

Very good, but it needs passion.......1998-10-28

This should have been better. Telarc has one of the best recording teams, Michael Murray is an excellent organist, Cesar Franck is one of the best composers for the organ, and the organ at Saint Sernin is one of the best for this music. So, why am I not thrilled? I think it's a lack of passion, or je ne sais quoi. It just doesn't move me like Virgil Fox's or Fred Swann's performances.

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