Franck's work for solo piano is surprisingly scarce for a composer who was an outstanding pianist since his early teens - indeed his father intended him to be an international virtuoso -. Apart from some early salon pieces that have been forgotten - 4 fantaisies, 3 petit riens, etc -, his complete piano works, comprising the Les plaintes d'une poupée (1865), Prélude, Choral et Fugue (1884), Danse Lente (1885), and Prélude, Aria et Final (1886) do not last as much as an hour. Danse Lente is a 2-page piece, lasting only three minutes, but its language is typically Franckian and its charm cannot be denied. Written in F minor in tempo Quasi lento, it opens with the theme, made of two phrases, the first one rising, the second descending in an unmistakably Franckian way. A bridge phrase ending in the dominant leads to a repetition of the theme, with the harmony slightly altered. The second half of the piece presents the same material with the theme in the bass. A beautiful piece, too easy to play for performers to bother. n

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