ISABEL GRAY (Pianoforte)
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
Conducted by JOHN ANSELL
IT has already been pointed out how César Franck left the pianoforte severely alone for a good many years of his busy life, although it was his first instrument. In the last part of his career he turned to it again with enthusiasm, and this piece was the first outcome of that renewed interest. It is a symphonic poem in one movement, in which the pianoforte is used rather as a member of the orchestra than as a solo instrument with accompaniment-a new departure at that date. The subject is one of the poems in Victor Hugo 's book, ' Les Orientales,' with the same title as Franck's piece. The Djinns were malevolent spirits in the Arab mythology, and in his music Franck sets before us some of the terror which they inspired.