String Quartet, Piano Quintet : Fine Arts Quartet, Ortiz

CESAR FRANCK (1822-1890)

String Quartet in D major, FWV 9
Piano Quintet in F minor, FWV 7

Cristina Ortiz - Piano
Fine Arts Quartet:
Ralph Evans - violin
Efim Boico - violin
Yuri Gandelsman - viola
Wolfgang Laufer - cello

Digital Recording: 03/2008

Following the release of their highly praised Naxos recording of Faure’s Piano Quintets (8.570938)-‘warmly expressive, their phrasing generous and intense’ (The Guardian)-Cristina Ortiz and the Fine Arts Quartet again join forces for this recording of Franck’s Piano Quintet, the extraordinary emotional range of which is unified by the tight thematic relationships typical of the composer’s ‘cyclic’ structuring. His String Quartet, composed ten years later, is a summit of Franck’s achievement, also cyclically conceived and revealing his admiration of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms. ( NAXOS )