Franck / Christoyannis / Cohen Complete Songs & Duets CD

Abundant though it is, C?sar Franck's vocal music (operas, sacred music, oratorios, m?lodies) does not occupy a prominent place in the current repertory. His instrumental compositions - headed by the Violin Sonata in A major and followed by the organ works - represent virtually all that today's audiences and musicians know of his output. Yet the m?lodies and vocal duets, neglected by performers and publishers alike, deserve to be plucked from oblivion, both for their own sake and for their place in the history of French music. The alluring voices of Tassis Christoyannis and V?ronique Gens immerse the listener in the atmosphere of the nineteenth-century Parisian salons and the m?lodies performed there. The composer and organist C?sar Franck, famed for his instrumental music, proves himself equally skilled in setting poems by Musset, Hugo, Chateaubriand, Daudet and Dumas. This first complete recording of his works for voice and piano ranges over his entire creative life.