Customer Reviews

Franck: Psyché; Le Chasseur maudit

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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.