César Franck (1822 – 1890)
Prélude, Fugue, et Variation for organ in B minor, Op. 18, FWV 30 (1862), arranged for piano by Bauer
Nikolai Lugansky, piano, 2019
Prélude – I. Antandino cantabile [0:00] II. Lento [3:30] Fugue – III. Allegretto ma non troppo [4:20] Variation – IV. Andantino [7:32]
Meloman.ru
“Like Widor, César Franck (1822–1890) was a Parisian organist, presiding from 1858 until his death at the Cavaillé-Coll organ at Ste-Clotilde. Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op 18, the third of his Six Pièces (1860–62), is dedicated to Saint-Saëns. Coming as it does directly after Franck’s Grande Pièce Symphonique, Op 17, its title might suggest a contrasting work of neo-Baroque severity, but what could be more Romantic than the haunting oboe melody of the first movement? A typical Franckian theme, moving largely by step and emphasizing particular notes of the scale, it has two limbs, the first a flowing theme of five-bar phrases, the second a dogged affair ascending the scale in four-bar phrases (and taken up in quasi-canonic fashion by the pedals). A short bridge passage introduces the second movement, a sober fugue on a subject, vocal in character, marked cantando. Assisted by stretti, a muted climax is reached, and the music proceeds without a break to the Variation, in which the hautbois, taking the stage again, has the ‘flowing’ and ‘dogged’ themes of the first movement, but here set against rippling semiquavers.”
– by Relf Clark, Hyperion Records