Catalogue | Chamber Music

Audite continues its series of recordings of the works of Eduard Franck with a pair of principal works of his chamber music production. The two String Quartets deliver convincing proof of the Mendelssohn pupil's compositional mastery and count as exemplary in terms of realising the creative possibilities of the genre around 1870.

The two Quartets, probably composed at about the same time, reveal a striking difference in character: the C minor Quartet, Op. 55 emphasises excited, dramatic gestures and attains great musical consistency, whereas the E-flat major Quartet is characterised by a far more differentiated stylistic variety - from reminiscences of Haydn to the dramatic "Adagio molto espressivo" of the second movement.

The Edinger Quartet attaches great value to the task of making little-known masterworks accessible to the public and has especially intensively dedicated itself to the chamber music of Eduard Franck.

• American Record Guide | Carl Bauman | January 3, 2002

  These recordings of Eduard Franck\'s (1817-93) string quartets are proudly labeled premiere recordings. I have no reason to disagree with that...

• Bayernkurier | Wolfgang Johannes Müller | June 9, 2001

  NEUER ROMANTIKER
  Ein Meister namens Eduard Franck
  Über einen vergessenenen Komponisten noch so begeistert zu reden, ist allemal weniger effektiv, als ihn zu spielen - und, um ihn wieder bekannt zu...

• CD Compact | Josep Pascual | January 11, 2003

  Hace pocos meses, empezó a distribuirse entre nosotros un compacto del sello Audite (aparecido en 1998 con grabaciones del año anterior y cuya...

• Diapason | Jean-Claude Hulot | January 1, 2005

  La firme Audite a entrepris de réhabiliter la musique d’Eduard Franck, romantique allemand qui fut l’élève particulier de Mendelssohn et qui...

• Fanfare | Martin Anderson | January 1, 2002

  Eduard Franck was born in Breslau in 1817, studied with Mendelssohn in Leipzig between 1834 and 1838, moved from Berlin to Cologne, from there to...

• Fono Forum | M.S. | January 7, 2001

  Vorhalte
  In seinen beiden hier eingespielten Streichquartetten hat Eduard Franck (1817-1893) Einflüsse Beethovens und seines Lehrers Mendelssohn mit...

• Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | Werner M. Grimmel | August 17, 2001

  Pflicht zur Romantik
  Da ist Platz neben den Gipsbüsten: Eduard Franck hat ihn verdient
  Daß er "auf diesem Wege weiter und vorwärts arbeiten" möge, wünschte...

• Klassik heute | Peter T. Köster | January 8, 2001

  Daß das Label audite mit der Wiederentdeckung des Mendelssohn-Schülers Eduard Franck (1817-1893) einen Volltreffer gelandet hat, wird mit jeder...

• Neue Musikzeitung | Hanspeter Krellmann | January 7, 2004

  Schatten-Dasein – Komponisten, die aus dem Raster fallen
  Unser musikgeschichtliches Verständnis orientiert sich an Eckdaten: Sie sind an bedeutenden, zumindest bekannten Komponisten und deren Werk...

• Pizzicato | Rémy Franck | January 9, 2001

  Ein seltener Melodienreichtum prägt die beiden Streichquartette des Mendelssohn-Schülers Eduard Franck (1817-1893), die das Edinger-Quartett auf...

• www.amazon.co.uk | J. A. Peacock | July 26, 2009

  Another fine issue in Audite's Eduard Franck edition
  As I have noted in other reviews of Franck's chamber music, works in the minor keys do not figure prominently in his compositional oeuvre; this...

• www.ClassicsToday.com | Victor Carr Jr | January 1, 2000

  Eduard Franck (1817-93) was a pupil of Felix Mendelssohn and, like his teacher, was descended from a wealthy German family of bankers (thus, no...

• www.musicweb-international.com | Rob Barnett | January 11, 2003

  Here are two of the three surviving string quartets of Eduard Franck. All three have been recorded by Audite. Franck was a pupil of Mendelssohn who...