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. 

In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson talks to the British-Israeli pianist Ariel Lanyi, who has just recorded Franck’s late masterpiece Prélude, Aria et Final 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. 

Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Damian Thompson.

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