MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Franck: Piano Works

French music has often lacked admirers because it lacks superficially endearing qualities. The moral or uplifting nature of much of Beethoven or its opposite, the neurasthenic appeal of Tchaikovsky, are alien to the simpler Gallic virtues of logic, clarity and moderation. The French have always been suspicious of the vaguely mystical or large sounding.