Franck - Piano Quintet in f minor (1879)
So this piece had a mini-scandal at its premiere. It isn’t super interesting at first but relevant in talking about the work itself. Composer and pianist Saint-Saëns had been at the piano at the public premiere, and the audience was shocked by the work’s sensuality, but also taken in by its power and the work was heavily applauded. Franck came on stage and was ready to give the score to Saint-Saëns, as a token of thanks for a great performance. Instead, Saint-Saëns abruptly walked off the stage without taking the score. The gesture was an infamous way of showing resentment for the music, and so everyone understood. Saint-Saëns hated the work he just played and wanted nothing more to do with it. Why do I bring this up? Because there are two things about this work that I assume helped set Saint-Saëns off. The first is that it is more “German” than “French”. It’s hard to adequately articulate what that means because I’m not a musicologist or music historian, but from my understanding, French music wasn’t so concerned with pragmatic and utilitarian structure in music. That is, the music doesn’t flow in a direction to fulfill some musical function, but simply for the enjoyment of how it sounds. Maybe that’s too stereotypical. But whatever the true reason, Franck’s late masterpieces are very “German”. They are all in cyclical form, they all take after the tradition of Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, and Wagner. The second major reason is the tonality. Franck is constantly meandering in different keys. The opening alone is somewhat shocking, that the dialogue between the strings and piano seems to have two key changes per bar. Listening to the piano in its solo passages during what feels like a “prelude”, the modulations go in very unexpected, but logical directions, almost like Brahms pushed to a farther limit. The music opens with a main descending theme in the strings. Then, the piano responds with a gorgeous passage that frequently modulates, carrying a melancholic feeling. The strings and piano go back and fourth with these two ideas, soon the opening descending theme, with its immediacy, becomes more subdued. But a buildup gives a warning that this work is going to be titanic in scope. The next section opens with quick runs in the piano, reminiscent of Saint-Saëns. The music continues to go between this kind of quiet melancholy and the immediacy of a storm. At the recapitulation, the piano joins the strings in the main theme by crawling upward chromatically in a gnarled pattern, but before we catch a breath we go back to the softer theme. Franck’s ability to jump between moods matches his ability to jump through keys. My favorite point is toward the end of this movement, where the music builds up to an intense passage with octaves in the piano over crying strings, and soon becomes the most hectic part with the piano playing a jagged rhythm over almost guttural scrapes in the strings. And yet, somehow, the music shifts back to quiet, the movement ends with softer chords trailing off. The last movement is the most restless, opening with menacing scratches in the strings. Main themes return and get lost in the whirlwind up until the very intense and dizzying coda. It is among the most passionate and dark works of the 19th century.
Movements:
1. Molto moderato quasi lento - Allegro
2. Lento con molto sentimento
3. Allegro non troppo ma con fuoco