1878 recording of Franck's Prière — possibly played by Franck himself !?!

[jhnbrbr]

To salvage something from the collective humiliation of this thread, how do you all rate the "Priere" amongst Franck's organ works? I now see it as one of the greatest, but I remember there was a time when I really struggled with it. I imagine the opening will sound quite off-putting to anyone with mainstream classical music tastes who doesn't "get" Franck, but once one is tuned to the correct wavelength, it is an absolute masterpiece.

[acc]

To salvage something from the collective humiliation of this thread, how do you all rate the "Priere" amongst Franck's organ works? I now see it as one of the greatest, but I remember there was a time when I really struggled with it. I imagine the opening will sound quite off-putting to anyone with mainstream classical music tastes who doesn't "get" Franck, but once one is tuned to the correct wavelength, it is an absolute masterpiece.

Oh, but I don't feel humiliated at all. Let's be fair play here: it was a good hoax, with the right number of believable elements, e.g. Edison did indeed invent the tin foil phonograph in 1877 (you know, "Mary had a little lamb"), and he did present it at the Paris World Fair in 1878.

As for Franck's Prière, I wholeheartedly agree: it is a masterpiece. Certainly the deepest among the Six Pièces, and in my personal opinion of all twelve, together with the 2nd Choral.

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha acc,

That was a real ruse with the Franck *Priere*

Cheers,

CD