Here's an enticing assemblage of Franck's three greatest chamber works, all splendidly recorded and offering stylish, powerfully communicative performances. The Ysaÿe version of the Quartet is superb – warm and friendly, with a greater range of tone colour and, in the less strenuous passages, more relaxed, a performance that fully realises the music's grandeur and intensity, and clearly articulating its complex forms.
In the Sonata, Guillaume Sutre plays many of the quieter passages with extreme delicacy; in a work that's often very strongly projected, he reminds us that at many points it's an intimately reflective work. And the passionate music, too, is given full measure. Rogéacute; is a master at developing the grand sonority of Franck's piano writing, with beautifully balanced chords and arpeggios. Sutre, however, sometimes sounds a little colourless, the varied tonal palette he commands as a quartet leader momentarily deserting him.
The Quintet performance is magnificent. For this richly scored, darkly coloured work, players and engineers have combined to do full justice to the weight and depth of the textures while completely avoiding the drab sound that sometimes comes with the combination of piano and string quartet. And in all three works, the musicians command all the flexibility this highly expressive music needs, alongside the subtlety and discipline that leaves us feeling we're hearing the music rather than just one interpretation of it.

The Quintet performance is magnificent. …in all three works, the musicians command all the flexibility this highly expressive music needs, alongside the subtlety and discipline that leaves us feeling we're hearing the music rather than just one interpretation of it.