Organist David Enlow presents Franck at 200

In honor of the 200th anniversary of César Franck’s birth, the organist David Enlow presents an all-Franck recital. The performance is on November 17, 2022, 7:00 pm at The Church of the Ascension (5th Avenue at 10th Street in Manhattan).

The French composer César Franck was an enormous influence on the development of romantic and post-romantic music. His music combined the structure of German Romanticism with the orchestral color and harmonies of French music. As a prodigious organ player, the Belgian-born composer inspired Parisian organists and composers alike with his long-form works for solo organ and virtuoso improvisations.

Organist David Enlow is uniquely poised for such a commemoration. His recording of Franck’s complete organ works (Pro Organo, 2012) received critical acclaim, with l’Orgue praising his “perfect technique, inventive, flexible, vigorous musicality.” 

The Church of the Ascension is an especially appropriate venue for this recital, as it is home to the only French-built organ in New York City, the Manton Memorial Organ built by Pascal Quorin in St-Didier, France. With over 6000 pipes, it is the largest French organ built anywhere in the past half century. The church’s history goes almost as far back as Franck himself – it was first organized in 1827, and has been in its current building since 1841.

Highlights of the November 17 recital include: 

• Choral in A minor: Franck’s final work, written while convalescing after a traffic accident in Paris

• The cinematic Pièce Héroïque, written for the dedication of the organ at Paris’ Palais du Trocadéro. “This piece could easily be the soundtrack to a feature film about love in wartime,” says David Enlow

• Final: A carnival-like work written for the composer’s populist friend Louis Lefébure-Wély

Organist David Enlow, hailed for his “dazzling technique” (Boston Classical Review) and “performances full of color, passion, invention, and power” (American Record Guide), is Music Director of Park Avenue Synagogue and Church of the Resurrection, and organist of the Clarion Music Society. He is first prize winner of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival and the Arthur Poister Competition, and studied with Paul Jacobs, John Weaver, and John Tuttle.