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Contents:
Total Time = 73:22 - Recorded at St John's Smith Square with the Sainsbury Organ 1997 The medium of organ and orchestra is a demanding one yet has a long history, at the head of which is the brilliant series of organ Concertos by Handel. These are amongst the earliest concertos for solo instrument and orchestra which remain in the repertoire. If no concertos for organ and orchestra have come down to us by J.S. Bach or by Vivaldi, there are several by Franz Josef Haydn and a series of 'Epistle Sonatas' for organ and orchestra by Mozart. The enormous development of the instrument in the 19th -century and the installation of large organs in civic buildings would seem to have provided opportunities for composers, but these were rarely taken up: occasionally we find the instrument being used in conjunction with orchestras in 19th-century scores - it was Liszt's initiative that first saw the instrument used orchestrally, in his symphonic poem Hunnenschlacht and Faust Symphony. Saint-Saëns Third Symphony - dedicated to Liszt- dramatically uses the organ, so much so that the work is known generally as the 'Organ Symphony'. It fell to Joseph Rheinberger to write two full-scale Concertos for Organ and Orchestra, late in his composing career and these fine works are the two most notable examples of this rare genre in late-Romantic literature, which , for the most part, used the organ as a hefty reinforcement of large-scale orchestral tuttis. Such examples as Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, Elgar's Enigma Variations (amongst other of his orchestral works), and Holst's The Planets most readily come to mind, but Strauss left a striking Festliches Praeludium for organ and Orchestra opus 61, which sums up the grand 'occasional' use of the combination. Another factor is the question of pitch: not all concert-hall or cathedral organs have the same pitch as modern orchestras, which occasionally lends another drawback to the practicalities of the medium. Nonetheless, twentieth-century organ concertos are still relatively few in number, and with few exceptions - such as Poulenc's delightful masterpiece, Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante, or the British Concertos by Malcolm Arnold, Malcolm Williamson and by Alun Hoddinott (whose Seventh Symphony is also for organ and orchestra) - tend to be written by organist-composers: in other words, organ virtuosos who were also gifted composers. The late 19-century French organ -school, at the head of which is César Franck - of which Francis Poulenc was certainly not a member but of whose existence he could hardly have been unaware - contributed most to this repertoire, and this unique album collects a number of the finest and unjustly-neglected examples together for the first time. DUPRÉ - SYMPHONY No.1 for Organ and Orchestra in G minor opus 25 (1928) 1 - Modérément Lent; Allegro II - Vivace III - Lent IV - Animé Marcel Dupré was one of the greatest organist--composers of his day. Born in Rouen in 1886 into a musical family (his father was a noted organist), he took lessons early on with Guilmant and then met the great organ-builder Cavaillé-Coll before entering the Paris Conservatoire, where his progress was exceptional. In addition to building a career as a fine organist he had also begun to compose, and not solely for his own instrument. After his sensational Paris recitals in 1920, when he played the complete works of Bach from memory, his career was established, and his own compositions, as with all organist-composers, tended to concentrate upon the organ. He died near Paris at the age of 85. Dupré wrote three large-scale works for organ and orchestra: two Symphonies (1928 and 1946 - the Second with piano) and a Concerto (1938). The First Symphony, in G minor, was given its world premiere in Glasgow on January 3rd 1928, with the composer as soloist. It is truly a work in which organ and orchestra are fully juxtaposed, yet come together in a finale of considerable imaginative skill. Exceptional amongst organ-composers. Dupré's command of the orchestra is first-rate, a quality we can appreciate in the slow introduction to the Symphony, which opens with a line in the bass register, as if it were the beginning of a passacaglia. The solo entry of the organ, in this introduction, reflects the theme in adumbration: then, with the orchestra, the main first (rhythmic) theme of the Allegro gets under way, building to a powerful climax. A second subject, more feminine, and given to the woodwind in the orchestra now follows, both subjects being now subjected to rigorous and brilliant symphonic working. Here is Dupré at his best: technical expertise coupled with immediate, emotional direct appeal as the music surges with inner excitement. The organ suddenly brings a more serious dimension to bear on the movement, and joined with the orchestra, the themes are outstandingly developed in a movement that is both powerful and tenderly lyrical, before the sudden, quiet, and strangely abrupt ending. The Scherzo now follows, well placed after the first movement's ending, with superb writing for the woodwind in an orchestral texture which is light and airy and always clear even in the most strenuous pages. The movement is in a modified ternary form, the third section being extended in developmental fashion, leading to a mysterious coda which ends with the organ detached from the fabric in its highest register, wherein the underlying fast pulse remains. The slow movement is an Impressionistic landscape, richly-scored and superbly sustained, not at all tragic or memorial in tone, despite moving inexorably to a magnificent full climax. Indeed, the quality of this music makes one wonder the more at its unconscionable neglect. The finale opens as a quietly joyous fugato on the strings, with a theme that might have occurred to a Gallic Englishman, until the entry of the organ reminds us that this is a Symphony, not a compositional treatise: in this movement Dupré's mastery, which combines fugato, double-rondo (à la Haydn) and symphonic variations - all contained within an infectious rhythmic pulse that never falters - is complete. A strong coda brings this magnificent composition to its imposing conclusion. DUPRÉ - CORTÉGE ET LITANIE OPUS 19: Organ & Orchestra (1921) First published for piano or organ solo, later arranged for organ and orchestra this is the first recording of the orchestral version. The Cortège opens as a noble chorale on the strings, taken up simply by the organ, and later combined. The Litanie is first given to solo flute, then accompanied by the organ; the theme is extended through other woodwind instruments, as the music grows in orchestral ostinato treatment until the Cortège theme is recalled in a powerful coda. GILLES - SYMPHONIE EN MI MAJEUR (1937 for Organ I - Lento II - Adagio III - Intermezzo IV - Final Considering the quality of his Organ Symphony in E major, very little indeed is known of the French composer Joseph Gilles, who died in 1942 at the age of 39. We know he was born in 1903, and was a pupil of Marcel Dupré, to whom this Symphony is dedicated, and was organist at a church on the Avenue Georges V. The Symphony, composed in 1937 and published a few years later, remains Gilles' only published composition. The details of his death are unclear, but he may have fallen victim to the Nazi invasion of France, as did Jehan Alain. The fate of Gilles' other music , for he clearly composed other works, is equally uncertain. The Symphony in E major is a deeply serious composition. The first movement is a slow and powerfully argued symphonic progression, in which Gilles admirably resists the temptation to alter the basic tempo: the progression is superbly sustained, and builds to a deeply impressive climax, after which the long-built-up harmonic tensions ease and the movement ends quietly. The casual listener might feel that the lasting influence of César Franck on French organ music is apparent in this work - and it is, up to a point - but Gilles clearly possessed an original voice, for all its being part of a great tradition. The Franckian influence may be the more notable in the slow movement, which (unusually, as this means two slow movements in succession) follows, but Gilles' first main theme is treated almost Messiaenically, hat he thought of such an idea. The movement is bipartite, the contemplative second half of which is set in train after the first rise to an impressive, but not overpowering, climax. A fluent and almost wholly under-stated scherzando, termed Intermezzo, comes next, its fleet movement retaining a somewhat distant character, which is wholly dispelled in the finale. Here, the tensions inherent in the music, long held in check, are given free rein in a tumultuous outpouring which rises to a powerful affirmation of the home key. DEMESSIEUX - POEME OPUS 9 (1949) for Organ and Orchestra Jeanne Demessieux, who was born in Montpelier in 1921 and died in Paris aged 47, was one of the great organists of her day, the possessor of both an enviable virtuoso technique and a genius for improvisation. She was another of Dupré's pupils who also composed, but wrote little; amongst her few published works is this Poème for organ and orchestra, written when she was 28. Stylistically, it is the most modern music on this album, recalling in some ways the music of Arthur Honegger, and in others the structural cyclicism of César Franck. Two main themes are stated in the exordium, followed by an intensely dramatic passage in which organ and orchestra vie for supremacy as the material is energetically developed. After a powerful climax, the second theme is transformed magically, as if it were an idyll, before the organ suddenly plunges into the fiery, extensive finale, the music passionate and impetuous is a theme, derived from the opening material, crowns the entire composition. The mysterious conclusion, at first full of wistful half-lights but gathering in powerful intensity, brings this striking work to its close. Page revised Friday May 25 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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