Franck-ly speaking, Part X: Choral in A minor

This is the tenth installment in a series on my take on playing the twelve large works of César Franck. Today’s topic is the third Choral in A minor. See the first post in the series for background information.

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This is the last organ solo piece we have from Franck. The popular perception is of him finishing the manuscript on his deathbed. Whether or not that is accurate, we do know that he was fighting an infection and died soon, and we also know that this music is the crowning achievement of Franck’s quest into transforming the organ into a concert instrument capable of playing its own symphonies. This is a profound piece indeed, and there is absolutely no shame in approaching it as a sacred treasure every time you sit down to it.

Of the three Chorals, this one is probably the easiest to play. That’s all relative, you understand; none is truly easy. And everyone will have his own opinion on which Choral speaks to him most deeply. This one speaks to me, if I listen to it through the lens of it being Franck’s final notes written for the organ. But my favorite Choral, indeed my favorite Franck, is the E major.

Measure 1: I would suggest that the opening tempo be determined by how you would like to play measure 30 and following. That is the real Chorale, and perhaps the ideal tempo for that should be transferred to the beginning. More often than not, the beginning is played far too fast, especially in proportion to the rest of the piece. This is neither a toccata nor a cadenza. The piece has something to say in the opening notes, and there might even be a phrase or a nuance or two to be had in this section. Give yourself time for them. And be very precise with the difference in length between sixteenth notes and eighth notes as Franck wrote them.

Measure 5: Metrically speaking, the last note of this measure is very unimportant. Therefore, it destroys the pregnant pause that follows when this note is held even slightly past its value. Other examples are measures 7, 14, 16, 18, 52, 54, and 56. I can tell that a performer is listening to every note (or not), based on their treatment of these cutoffs.

Measure 13: The Dover reprint shows the left hand downbeat as an eighth note, but the rests that follow it assume it should have been a sixteenth, which I prefer here.

Measures 16 and 18: Notice the fermatas are on rests, not on notes. See above.

Measure 27: Franck initiates the ritard here. Many people start it in 23, but doing so overblows the quarter notes starting in 26 and makes the section interminable. Slowing too soon also waters down the descending soprano in 23-25. Allow Franck’s larger note values in 26 to be their own slowdown before forcing more slowing in 27 and following.

Measure 30: One should probably resume Tempo I here, so that we can discern the melody (which is the real Chorale). Otherwise, it sounds more like an interlude than it should. In other words, I feel that the "quasi allegro" sixteenths of measure 1 should still be chattering away in your ear as you play these half notes. It will give them the momentum they need, and it will prevent wallowing in sentimentality, which my ear rejects for this piece. It will also provide some more integrated context for measure 48.

Measure 39: I play the alto E-flat with dead-but-coupled Pedal to assist with legato throughout this measure.

Measures 53 and 55: No tempo change indicated here. It might be a nice experiment to continue here in tempo, in contrast to the hesitancy indicated for measures 15-19.

Measure 56: Notice no fermata this time. And I would resume the chattering 16th movement behind these half-notes, as in measure 30.

Measures 80-90: Execute Franck's note values carefully. 

Measures 91-96: Don’t start this section too slowly. It could get tedious and labored.

Measure 96: The fermata is on the final note of the outgoing registration, not on the first note of the Adagio section. I would make the pickup from 96 into 97 be in your intended tempo.

Measures 97-116: This slow chorale (arguably not the Chorale in this piece) is among the most excerpt-able moments we have from Franck. Be sure the melody notes don’t blur together. If they do, it just makes that Trumpet loud and muddy. Play every note right where it belongs. I would suggest treating this section like Chopin, where there is a general pulse in the background that is stretched and compressed here and there but never loses count. Finally, in too many performances, the player gets stuck on the ties in the melody (96-97, 98, 99-100, 105-106, 107-108, etc). But it is directly on a tied note where the melody needs to regain its momentum after the longer note that precedes it. Listen, listen, listen.

Measures 117-141: This is one of those sections that needs to be “perfect,” plain and simple. Too slow, and it languishes in its repetitiveness. Too fast, and it "thunders" prematurely.

Measures 143-145: Don’t speed up. You’ll just have to slow right back down in a moment.

Measure 146: The fermata is on a rest, not on the manual note! A fermata is also on the right foot, but I'd say you could cut off that note at any strategic moment you like, to enhance the decrescendo in preparation for 147.

Measure 147: I put my left hand on the Récit to avoid sharing middle C among the hands and breaking eighth notes into two sixteenths. For 153, I bring the left hand back to the Positif.

Measures 147-173: Try entertaining the notion of a subtle accelerando.

Measure 170: I move the right hand to the Great on beat 3. That’s a safer spot to move that hand accurately, and it doesn’t interrupt the flow into 171 that way.

Measure 173: The registration instructions appear to be aligned with the downbeat in the editions I have used. But I would suggest that that piston be hit on the third beat, to coincide with the first note of the “chorale.” Compare with measures 30 and 56. Another way to make that first melodic half-note stand out is to delay any further buildup in the Pedal until later, say, 175 or 178.

Measures 190-199: Of course, legato with manual octaves is impossible. There are some options in this section. You could separate the octaves and make them more declamatory. You could leave out some notes, particularly to keep the upper melody legato. Experiment. Decisions are affected by the acoustic and organ. How it sounds is most important. Making alterations toward legato would sound completely different from a declamatory broken style. Take your pick. Franck wouldn’t be allowed to complain about your choice, since he marked octaves and full chords legato in the first place!

Finally, I make the ritard in 190 last until the very end. Every note is a wee bit slower than the one before. Such a slowdown is very long, very gradual, and very subtle and requires lots of practicing and lots of listening. Keep the beat or any background pulse you have going. The danger is in overblowing it. We still have to get to the end, so don’t park somewhere when you’re not arrived yet. Think of this like trying to stop an old steam locomotive. You can pull on the brakes, but it won’t stop for a while! You have to pull harder, harder, and it finally slows down, little by little, until completely stopped.