Holy Smoke: finding spiritual treasure in César Franck

<p>The Belgian composer César Franck – unfairly associated with kitsch and sentimentality by certain cultural sophisticates – wrote some of the most spiritually inspiring music of the late 19th century.&nbsp;</p><p> </p><p> In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson talks to the British-Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi, who has just recorded Franck’s late masterpiece <em>Prélude, Aria et Final </em>on the Linn label. Ariel discusses the influence of Catholicism and the anti-Catholic Richard Wagner on the devout Franck, who was organist of a church in Paris for 30 years – but reserved his most profound thoughts for ostensibly secular works.&nbsp;</p><p> </p><p> Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Damian Thompson.</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>