We continue our successful collaboration with the german organist Elke Völker. Her new recording, however, is not dedicated to the composer Karg-Elert, but to César Franck!

"Franck avant César Franck" is the programmatic title of her new album devoted to Franck's early works for organ. "Franck before César Franck", which suggests that this is a largely neglected repertoire, composed in time before the "important" organ works of the composer, belonging today to the standard works of the late nineteenth-century organ music. The stylistic development of Franck in the 1850s, to which the famous "Six Pièces" from 1859 almost seamlessly add, is fascinating to discover.

The 1857 Aristide Cavaillé-Coll organ in the basilica of Bonsecours selected for this recording was built precisely at the time when these early works were composed and is therefore ideally suited for the repertoire. So far it has been extremely rarely recorded on CD. For lovers of French-romantic organ sounds, especially the organs of Cavaillé-Coll, this new album is surely of a special charm!

Superb essay on César Franck's early organ music written by Kurt Lueders for the booklet! Kurt Lueders is an undisputed expert on the organ music of the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In addition, he is the performer of our SACD AE10351 "... et après César Franck" with works in the post-Franckist tradition.