Simon Li - French Organ Music

French Organ Music In addition to eight substantial organ sonatas, Alexandre Guilmant left a considerable number of shorter works, many of them characteristically crafted and all immensely idiomatic. Of these several have become favourites with both players and audiences. The Grand Choeur finds its composer at his ceremonial best, inspired by the Handelian style (as in his popular March on a theme of Handel.) A broadly sweeping triple-time lilt is sustained throughout the main thematic material, with a vivacity maintained even in the quieter episodes. The pedal writing is of particular interest and energy. Founded on the rhythm of the traditional child's lullaby \Do, do, l'enfant do, Louis Vierne's Berceuse is the most celebrated of his 24 Pieces in Free Style for harmonium or organ. Dedicated to his daughter Collette, the piece unfolds tenderly - chordally and melodically by turn. The string and flute registers of the organ are to be used in alternation. In its original form, the Prelude to Charpentier's Te Deum is scored for solo trumpet and orchestra, a medium which provides an effective organ solo. This noble music has achieved considerable fame by its use as an identifying signature-tune for the Eurovision network. Three main motifs are deployed by Jean Langlais in his Trois Meditations, published in 1962. God the Father is represented by the undulating plainchant Pater Noster melody, God the Son by the delightfully evocative carol tune Noel Nouvelet and God the Holy Spirit by the expansive Pentecost hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus, heard in long notes, massively harmonised at each appearance. Pervading all three portions of this expressive and ingenious triptych is the theme from Bach's Fugue in E fiat 'pro organo pleno' from the end of the Clavierübung, Part III. In England, this subject is immediately recognisable as the opening of Croft's celebrated Hymn Tune St. Anne, sung universally to Watts' paraphrase of Psalm 90 beginning O God, our help in ages past. In France, what is consequently known in Britain as the St. Anne Fugue is known as the Trinity Fugue, because of its three sections, hence its important place in Langlais' Meditations. Each movement has precise instructions for registration, and every portion of the work after the first incorporates references to music already heard, thus representing in music the inclusive nature of the theological concept of the Sacred Trinity. If Vierne's Berceuse represents the wistful, then his Epitaphe shows us something of the melancholy which pervaded his character. The C sharp minor tonality and the close harmony combine to yield a pervading pathos which never fails to make a profound impression on the hearer. Born in Bordeaux, Joseph Bonnet, a pupil of the great Guilmant, achieved widespread fame as a brilliant recitalist, travelling the world from his home base at the Parisian church of St Eustache. His many organ solos serve to keep his name alive, and this delicious Romance sans Paro