Franck - Piano Quintet, Debussy: String Quartet

The Guardian 60

Takács Quartet, Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
(Hyperion)

Of all the music César Franck wrote, four works made his name: the Symphonic Variations, the Violin Sonata, the Symphony in D minor and this Piano Quintet. The quintet (1879) shares that same big, romantic sound and emotional intensity of the violin sonata, beautifully brought out here by Marc-André Hamelin and the Takács in a stirring, virtuosic recording - an ideal way to encounter a still unfamiliar work. This is, however, a CD of two uneven parts: there’s no questioning the Takács’s ability to play the Debussy String Quartet wonderfully. Something less corporeal, a little more elusive and vaporous, would have made it even better.