Books by César Franck

Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne (What one hears on the mountain) is a symphonic poem inspired by Victor Hugo's poem of the same name. Composed in 1846, three years before Liszt's tone poem on the same subject, the score remained unknown until 1922. The score offered here is a newly engraved edition prepared by Richard W. Sargeant, Jr. based upon the composer's manuscript preserved at the French National Library.Although the editor has been faithful to Franck's manuscript, a few changes have been made for the sake of practicality in performance. Due to the replacement of natural horns and trumpets with valved the chromatic instruments like those employed today during the composer's own lifetime the brass has been reorganized. The manuscript features first and second natural trumpets and horns (respecvtively in E and E-flat) alternating notes to acheive melodic passages. These sections have accordingly been amended to be performed by valved trumpets or horns in unison. Starting in measure 187 flute 1 has a solo followed by an extremely long held note - impossible for a single player. This long note has therefore been split between overlapping flutes 1 and 2.Possibly the first symphonic poem ever composed, Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne is a truly magnificent work with a brilliant orchestration which has been unduly disregarded for far too long. Hopefully this new, highly readable score will open the doors to more performances so audiences can appreciate the composer of the much later Symphony in D minor in an entirely new way.

Franck's Piano Concerto in B minor is an early work written when he was only 13 years old to showcase his piano talents. A fragment of one of his two piano youthful concertos (likely this one) was performed in Paris at 62nd concert of L'Athénée musical on February 23, 1837 featuring the composer as soloist and the orchestra conducted by J.J. Vidal but there doesn't seem to be any further record of a performance in Franck's lifetime. In the manuscript the orchestra parts contain very few dynamic markings and almost no articulations. These have been supplied by the editor for balance and style. Franck calls for a pair of horns in D and a second pair in B basso. The first pair (in D) take the upper notes only when all four horns are playing; the second pair (in B basso) play throughout the entire work. The horn parts have therefore been reorganized for the present edition so that Horns 1 & 2 play the orginal D parts when all four horns are playing and take music originally assigned to the B basso parts elsewhere. Since Horns 3 & 4, Trumpets and Trombones seldom play, the editor has provided cues for these sparse parts so that the work can be performed with a smaller orchestra.While the piano solo in the manuscript has been marked with dynamics throughout, there are few articulations. The few that are indicated have been also been applied to parallel passages by the editor. As Franck left phrasing, pedaling, articulations for the soloist to decide (as was the tradition), the editor has not supplied any. Richard W. Sargeant, Jr.'s, newly engraved edition is based directly upon the composer's manuscript preserved at the French National Libarary, brings to life an early but impressive work that is undeservedly overlooked and neglected. IMSLP page YouTube (listen)