Greco, Corrado
Cesar Franck: Piano Works
The programme unites three structures by César Franck, from the memory of the organ to the maturity of his pianistic thought. In Prélude, Fugue et Variation op. 18, transcribed by Harold Bauer, the legacy of Sainte-Clotilde and the French symphonic organ is gathered into the keyboard. Prélude, Aria et Final FWV 23 replaces liturgical chorale with a more human and solitary voice, while Prélude, Choral et Fugue FWV 21 grafts an unmistakably modern cyclic conception onto the Bachian legacy. Counterpoint, chromatic modulation and thematic transformation make form an organism governed by memory: each motif passes through shadow, conflict and metamorphosis before returning with renewed necessity. The piano thus becomes a threshold between prayer and drama, ancient rigour and Romantic inquietude.