César Franck: The Rosary

César Franck (1822–1890) wrote twelve major works for the organ and numerous harmonium pieces. He is regarded as the most important composer for the organ after Bach and the greatest composer for the French symphonic organ. The serene anxiety and ethereal beauty of the compositions of the ‘Fra Angelico of the organ’ make them a touching accompaniment to meditations on the The Rosary. Gerard Carter’s free arrangement for organ or harmonium of some of César Franck’s most sublime music makes it available in a practical and convenient form for liturgical, devotional and musical purposes.

Contents:

Joyful mysteries

Annunciation (Fantaisie in C major)
Visitation (Fantaisie in C Major)
Nativity (Pastorale)
Presentation (Grande Pièce Symphonique)
Finding in the Temple (Grande Pièce Symphonique)

Sorrowful mysteries

Agony in the Garden (Fantaisie in C Major)
Scourging at the Pillar (Pièce Héroïque)
Crowning with Thorns (Fantaisie in A Major)
Carrying of Cross (Choral No. 2 in B minor)
Crucifixion (Grande Pièce Symphonique, Fantaisie in A Major)

Glorious mysteries

Resurrection (Choral No. 3 in A minor)
Ascension (Final)
Descent of the Holy Spirit (Grande Pièce Symphonique)
Assumption (Cantabile)
Coronation (Grande Pièce Symphonique)

Luminous mysteries

Baptism (Pièce Héroïque)
Wedding at Cana (Final)
Proclamation of the Kingdom (Choral No. 1 in E Major)
Transfiguration (Pièce Héroïque)
Eucharist (Panis Angelicus)

Spiral Bound Sheet Music 71 pages 297 x 210 mm
ISBN 978-3-8442-2787-1 RRP EUR 30

Gerard Carter studied César Franck’s organ works with Maître Jean Langlais in Paris in 1980 and played the Chorale no. 1 in E major on the beautifully harmonised, historic Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Basilica of Ste Clothilde, Paris. César Franck presided at the tribune of Ste Clothilde for thirty-two years and composed and performed his greatest compositions on that organ. Maître Langlais was titulaire at Ste Clothilde, succeeding Dr Charles Tournemire who was César Franck’s last pupil. Both Tournemire and Langlais were distinguished organists, composers and teachers. Gerard Carter also studied organ with Mr Alan Moffat who was a prominent Sydney organist and authority on the French symphonic organ and its literature. Gerard Carter is the author of two publications on César Franck’s organ works. He has issued a CD of his performance of Franck’s Chorale no. 3 in A minor and Cantabile on the 1890 Théodore Puget Père et Fils organ at Kincoppal-Rose Bay Chapel, Rose Bay. He has also issued a CD of his performance of the Chorale on the 1883 Hill & Son organ at St Augustine’s Church, Balmain, where he was organist for a number of years in the 1980s. Gerard Carter is currently organist at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Ashfield, where a two-manual organ built in 1962 by George Fincham & Sons, Melbourne, speaks to a magnificent acoustic.

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