This SACD is a further addition to Audite’s successful series of music by Eduard and Richard Franck – father and son. In 1907 the Basler Nationalzeitung commented about Richard Franck: “His outstanding quality is the art of making the piano sing; he is by turns tender and soft,warm and full of life.” But this former pupil of Reinecke also enjoyed a high reputation as a composer of chamber music and piano pieces. The Fantasia for Pianoforte Op.28 and the Piano Quartets Op. 33 and Op. 41 were written when Franck was at the height of his powers. The music captivates the listener with its sophisticated treatment of the musical material and the effective interaction of the four instruments.

The recording pays close attention to detail while at the same time being both spacious and well-balanced. Christoph Schickedanz (violin) and Bernhard Fograscher (piano) are already familiar from earlier recordings of music by Franck. Here this duo is expanded to include their teaching colleague from Hamburg, Marius Nichiteanu (viola) and Mathias Beyer-Karlshoj (violoncello), the cellist of the Henschel Quartet.