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First name: Richard
Last name: Franck
Dates: 1858-1938
Category: Quartet
Nationality: German
Opus name: Opus 33 in A (1901)
Publisher: Silvertrust
Peculiarities: Pfefferkorn: http://www.pfefferkorn-verlag.com/kammermusik/klavierquartett/; See: http://www.earsense.org/chamberbase/works/detail/?pkey=8049; cd in the possesion of Reurt Gisolf
Information: Richard Franck (1858-1938) was a German pianist, composer and teacher. He was born in Cologne and was the son of the German composer, pianist and teacher Eduard Franck. His father, who had studied with Felix Mendelssohn and knew the value of good instruction, sent Richard to the prestigious Leipzig Conservatory where he studied with two of the leading teachers of the day, Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn. During the course of a long career, Franck held teaching positions at conservatories in both Germany (Kassel, Berlin, Heidelberg) and in Switzerland (Basle). Although he did not reach the front rank amongst his contemporaries, he was nevertheless well-respected as a concert artist and as a composer. His style was pretty conservative, influenced by Reinecke and by his friend, the Swiss composer Hans Huber (1852-1921). Franck was firmly in the tradition of Mendelssohn and Schumann though it\\\'s clear that he was not immune from the influence of Wagner, Grieg and Reger also. The music is uniformly pleasing and the craftsmanship sounds to be tasteful and of a high order. Those critics, who were familiar with his compositions and his piano playing, regularly lavished praised upon them. The bulk of Franck\\\'s compositions are for solo piano, however, he also wrote orchestral and vocal compositions as well as a considerble amount of chamber music. Though he and his music have been long forgotten, as of late, his music has been rediscovered and is in the process of being revived. His piano trios, piano quartets and four sonatas have all been recently recorded on Audite, a selection of orchestra works on Sterling. Early in 2007, Edition Silvertrust republished the parts to his Op.20 Piano Trio, the first in a series of chamber works to be released. Within the next years, all available works of Richard Franck will be published in critcal Editions by Pfefferkorn Music Publishers, Leipzig.