After Mūza Rubackytė’s dazzling disc of the piano music (released in May), the second Franck release on Brilliant pairs her with fellow Lithuanian musicians for the two major chamber works by the Belgian composer. Both the String Quartet and Piano Quintet are conceived on a grand scale, with the loose, long-limbed melodies and intensely worked counterpoint characteristic of Franck; as late works, they represent a summit of his musical achievement, but they demand fearsome levels of concentration from performers, which may be one reason why they are performed and recorded but rarely.
