Been gettin mo into diz mofoz Gensui ov late
Fav workz n recz?
Da HOUGH cd iz fo zhor a clazzic.
Diz piece actually lyk a long lozt 
clazzic!
N diz otha writin iz a zumwut gensui ztylee dat remind a bit ov BACH BUZ tranz…romanticized yet baroque n haf gensui organ lyk zonoritiez n grandeur
Richter’s Prelude, Chorale, and Fugue is far and away the best recording of the work. Richter/Oistrakh’s recording of the Violin sonata is also incredible.
Tru. Bezt recz ov Prélude, Aria et Final?
Actually mo fond ov diz 1
Hough’z rec won me over.
zum rare 
display from da WEIZZMEIZTAH
I’ve never loved the Prelude, Aria, and Finale as much as the PCF… but definitely Cortot and Hough are great recs. Fiorentino and Bolet (RIAS) are also excellent.
And tru, for the Prelude, Fugue, and Variation Weissenberg is king.
Hough is quite a journey in the PCF as well, as are Moravec and Cherkassky. Grosvenor is good too, but I remember he drove me nuts with his Chorale (by not paying attention to Franck’s pulse indications in the score, which I think are hugely important). I have no clear favourite really - not Richter either, who I think misses the point with the piece, but I do agree that as far as everything you can weigh, measure and count go he is on top of the others.
The PAF is easy - Cortot 1932 - and I’d also strongly advise taking a look at Maria Grinberg’s Symphonic Variations. Cortot has a great VS too incidentally, even if Thibaud doesn’t.
Randomly, since I know comme is somewhat a fan of Korstick, here’s his new Franck rec. It’s pretty decent - and includes the Cortot trans of the Violin Sonata.
Randomly, since you’re an expert - do you know if the Richter Melodiya PCF and the Revelation PCF are different recs? I’ve never done a bit-for-bit comparison, but at a surface level they seem identical to me. Yet Ates has them listed as:
9/2/55 - Moscow - Live - REVELATION RV 10048 (CD)**
16/10/55 - Moscow - MELODIYA/BMG 29465 2 (CD)**
I’m inclined to think he’s wrong, because he also has the Franck Violin Sonata on Revelation listed as distinct from the Melodiya recording - and I’ve actually done a deep look at those and concluded they were identical. And while Falk’s list has the violin sonata listed correctly, he too lists both 1955 PCFs.
Edit: Here’s a waveform comparison of the two. I know Richter was superhuman, but this is too similar - even for him.
With these things I’m mostly just an expert at consulting my own list really, which does not include the Revelation CD, but I nonetheless think you’re right. I have a private copy of the 1955-02-09 Franck which I just compared to the October Melodiya, and these two are clearly different recordings. So clearly it’s impossible to confuse them - one is live, the other studio. If Rev/Mel sound the same Revelation more than likely does have the studio recording, only misdated, and Ates fell in the trap since there indeed was a Franck PCF with SR from the suggested date.
Ah, I forgot I have a copy of that '55 live rec. It is indeed clearly live, and different from the revelation rec. Mystery solved.
I love the PCF and I would recommend the lesser known recordings of Blanche Selva and Abbey Simon.
The Piano Quintet (Richter/Borodin, Bolet/Juilliard) and the Violin Sonata (Oistrakh/Oborin, Thibaud/Cortot, …)
Symphonic Variations (Cziffra, Cortot, Gieseking)
Do you think Oistrakh/Oborin beats Oistrakh/Richter? I’ll admit I’ve never heard the Oborin rec because I didn’t feel I needed to.
I’ll have to listen carefully again to both recs. Perhaps I slightly prefer the Oistrakh/Richter indeed…
