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Franck: Complete Masterworks for Organ
Cesar Franck, Michael Murray
Franck: Complete Masterworks for Organ
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (5) - Disc #2

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 greate...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Cesar Franck, Michael Murray
Title: Franck: Complete Masterworks for Organ
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Telarc
Release Date: 2/23/1990
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Forms & Genres, Fantasies, Short Forms, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830), Instruments, Keyboard
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 089408023422

Synopsis

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
 

CD Reviews

Very good, but it needs passion
Richard A. Ayers | 10/28/1998
(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."
Good Franck Offering
Peter J. Bice | McKinney, TX United States | 12/02/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"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
Richard A. Ayers | San Diego, CA | 05/23/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."