Franck: Psyché; Le Chasseur maudit

Michael George (Performer), Cesar Franck (Composer), Tadaaki Otaka (Conductor), John Hugh Thomas (Conductor), BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Michael George
• Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales
• Conductor: Tadaaki Otaka, John Hugh Thomas
• Composer: Cesar Franck
• Audio CD (March 21, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000000AW7
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,133 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful but largely-overlooked suite for orchestra and chorus, January 4, 2008

By 

D. R. Schryer (Poquoson, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Franck: Psyché; Le Chasseur maudit (Audio CD)

Cesar Franck's beautiful suite for orchestra and chorus, Psyche, is one of the many outstanding works from classical music's Romantic period which is largely ignored in our current unromantic era. Franck is still fairly well known today for his Symphony in D but, in my opinion, Psyche is his true masterpiece and it is presented complete on this CD.

In the ancient Greek myth Psyche was so beautiful that Eros himself fell in love with her and secretly took her for his bride. In order to keep his identity secret, Eros came to Psyche each night only after dark. But, Psyche's curiosity about her lover caused her to light a candle one night in order to see him and, unfortunately, molten wax from the candle fell on Eros and awakened him. Angry with Psyche, Eros fled and abandoned her. But Psyche's love for Eros was so great that she resolutely sought him widely and eventually found him again and won his forgiveness.

This highly romantic tale inspired the normally staid Cesar Franck to write a gorgeously romantic score unlike anything else he ever composed. Regrettably, this masterpiece of 19th century Romanticism is now largely unknown to classical music lovers If you are one of the few remaining romantics, I beg you to acquire this beautiful CD while it is still available.