Alexandre Tharaud & Quatuor Arod

César Franck's monumental Piano Quintet in F minor  meets works by Fanny Hensel and Béla Bartók.

Following the devastating outcome of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the French music scene was undergoing a transformation: Composers such as César Franck were intensely engaged in the search for new, “typically French” forms of musical expression, particularly in the realm of chamber music. With his Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor, composed in 1878–79, Franck achieved a stroke of genius. To bring this milestone in French music history to the stage, the young musicians of the multi-award-winning Quatuor Arod have joined forces with pianist Alexandre Tharaud. The evening opens with Fanny Hensel’s wonderful String Quartet in E-flat major, the only work of this genre she ever composed. It is paired in the first half with Béla Bartók’s ambitious String Quartet No. 4 in C major.