Eduard Franck: String Sextets

The genre of the string sextet, in the classical expansion of the string quartet by means of a second viola and violoncello, enables the composer to a achieve a finer gradation in the darker timbral regions, thanks to the additional tenor and bass voices. This was especially congenial to Eduard Franck, for, in terms of musical content, he was connected to the sonic tradition of Mendelssohn and Brahms rather than to the musical language of “new” romantics such as Liszt and Wagner. Besides Brahms, Franck was influenced by the study of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. This is also readily apparent in his String Sextets; counterpoint and polyphony mark this music just as strongly as do classic-romantic ideals of sound. Franck’s String Sextets are a very personal contribution to this unusual and rare genre; they confirm Franck’s mastery of polyphony on the boundary between chamber music and orchestral effect.

The Edinger Quartet, founded by Prof. Christiane Edinger, is expanded in this recording by the violist Leo Klepper and the cellist Mathias Donderer; both are musicians in the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.