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Franck - Les Beatitudes

£23.61

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Label: Fuga Libera

Cat No: FUG817

Barcode: 5400439008175

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 2

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 12th January 2024

Works

Franck, Cesar

Les Beatitudes

Artists

Anne-Catherine Gillet (soprano)
Heloise Mas (mezzo-soprano)
Eve-Maud Hubeaux (contralto)
John Irvin (tenor)
Artavazd Sargsyan (tenor)
David Bizic (baritone)
Patrick Bolleire (bass)
Yorck Felix Speer (bass)
Hungarian National Choir
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege

Conductor

Gergely Madaras

Works

Franck, Cesar

Les Beatitudes

Artists

Conductor

Gergely Madaras

About

César Franck considered Les Béatitudes, for soloists, choir and orchestra, to be his greatest work. It was perhaps Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion that prompted him to begin a work in 1869 that too would be dominated by the voice of Christ. Franck worked on Les Béatitudes for ten years and created an original and deeply personal renewal of the oratorio form in 19th-century France. This is no simple musical depiction of a subject taken from the Gospel: Franck, a firm believer in the precepts of the Beatitudes, was here inspired to write a bold and personal work, driven by the ideal of justice that its unforgettable music portrays.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

Prologue
2

1ère Béatitude: Bienheureux les pauvres desprit, parce que le Royaume des cieux est à eux
3

2ème Béatitude: Bienheureux ceux qui sont doux, parce qu’ils posséderont la terre
4

3ème Béatitude: Bienheureux ceux qui pleurent, parce qu’ils seront consolés
5

4ème Béatitude: Bienheureux ceux qui ont faim et soif de la justice, parce qu’ils seront rassasiés
6

5ème Béatitude: Heureux les miséricordieux, parce qu’ils obtiendront eux-mêmes miséricorde
7

6ème Béatitude: Bienheureux ceux qui ont le cœur pur, parce qu’ils verront Dieu
8

7ème Béatitude: Bienheureux les pacifiques, parce quils seront appelés enfants de Dieu
9

8ème Béatitude: Bienheureux ceux qui souffrent de persécution pour la justice, parce que le Royaume des cieux est à eux

Europadisc Review

The bicentenary of the birth of César Franck in 2022 brought an impressive number of recordings, although most of them concentrated on well-known works: the Symphony in D minor, symphonic poems, instrumental and chamber works. One of the more enterprising releases came the following year with Franck’s opera Hulda. Released by Bru Zane records, it brought together a starry cast under the direction of Hungarian-born Gergely Madaras at the head of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. In a sign that Madaras is becoming a Franck specialist of real stature, he and his Liège orchestra now turn their attention to another of Franck’s most large-scale works, the sacred oratorio cum choral symphony, Les Béatitudes.

Composed over a period of ten years from 1869 to 1879, this vast nine-movement work is a poetic and musical expansion on the Beatitudes of Christ as preached in the Sermon on the Mount in St Matthew’s Gospel. The rather wordy text is by Joséphine-Blanche Colomb, and although it throws up potentially interesting contrasts between good and evil in each of the eight main movements, it is the transcendent radiance of Franck’s setting that makes the strongest mark. There are, to be sure, several dramatic passages along the way, notably the thrilling chorus with Satan that precedes the benevolent appearance of the Voice of Christ in the Seventh Beatitude. Yet Franck was not naturally disposed to write music of an ‘evil’ character, and time and again it is the beatific nature of his large-scale writing (eight vocal soloists, double-chorus and large orchestra) that impresses the listener.

Only one soloist is common to both this and Madaras’s recording of Hulda: Artavazd Sarsgsyan. He and fellow tenor John Irvin are fearless in their execution of Franck’s high-lying vocal lines, the latter most impressively in the extended solo of the Fourth Beatitude. Of the other soloists, soprano Anne-Catherine Gillet is particularly radiant, contralto Ève-Maud Hubeaux is deeply committed as the Mother in the Third Beatitude, and bass Patrick Bolleire is a menacing Satan in the last two movements. Baritone David Bižić is the very personification of warm and wise compassion as the Voice of Christ, his mellifluous tones deployed in every movement but the opening Prologue.

The real stars of this performance, however, are the Hungarian National Choir, singing with passionate dedication and clarity even in Franck’s most harmonically challenging passages, and the Liège orchestra which, under Madaras’s clear-headed yet involving direction, offers a wonderfully transparent account of some potentially muddy textures. They deploy a delicacy of tone which is ideal for this work, yet the moments of fuller scoring and knotty climaxes are well captured by the Fuga Libera recording team and make a bold impact.

Franck himself regarded Les Béatitudes as his magnum opus, as did the most ardent supporters among his circle. Its monolithic scale and earnest tone may discourage more fainthearted listeners and performers: Franck only heard it in a partial, scaled-down private performance at his Paris home. Complete performances of the work followed within a few years of his death in 1890. The work has divided opinion even among Franck aficionados, yet this recording, taken from live performances in Liège, including on the very day of the composer’s bicentenary on 10 December 2022, has a focus and commitment that silences criticism. Above all, it grasps the work’s splendid architectural design – a formal arch peaking in the Third to Sixth Beatitudes – and its expressive strength is the sincerity of the performance, culminating in the overwhelming power and urgency of the final pages.

Although no sung texts are included in the accompanying booklet (they are accessible online via a QR code), a detailed essay by Joël-Marie Fauquet is as persuasive and insightful as the performances themselves. If you have yet to fall under the Franckian spell of Les Béatitudes, this sympathetically captured and sung performance of the mighty two-hour work could well persuade you otherwise. And for paid-up members of the Franck fan club, the special provenance of this recording ought to be reason enough to give it a spin!