GMCD 7193 You can order this CD in our E-Shop under Instrumental/Music for Organ Reviews ***Sound Clips***	MARCEL DUPRÉ Volume 10 Intégrale des œuvres pour orgue Complete Organ Works Sämtliche Orgelwerke   Jeremy Filsell - Organ   www.jeremyfilsell.com

Contents:

DDD Total Time = 56:10 / Recorded at St. Boniface Episcopal Church, Sarasota, Florida, USA - September 1998

Le Chemin de la Croix, Op. 29
‘The first sketch of The Stations of the Cross was conceived and realised in the form of an improvisation, at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, on 13th February 1931. During the concert the fourteen poems of Le Chemin de la Croix by the great French poet Paul Claudel were read, and after each I improvised a musical commentary. Many in the audience having expressed their regret that nothing should remain of this spontaneous music, I decided to write the work down, trying to evoke the same atmosphere. Its composition took me an entire year, and I gave the first performance on the organ of the Trocadéro in Paris on 18th March 1932. Le Chemin de la Croix is a vast symphonic poem in which several leading themes recur, but each station has its own musical conception...’

‘No musical theme had been imposed on me. Advised in advance of what I would have to do, I had determined, in broad terms, the musical atmosphere of each of the 14 stations, their registration, their tonality; finally, in my imagination I had found my themes, or rather the ‘symbolic motifs’ on which the finished work is constructed. Moreover, on the afternoon of the concert I devoted myself to a preliminary ‘study’ of my 14 stations, in accordance with the decisions I had made; it was a kind of rehearsal. So what I did what was part composition, part improvisation. But contrary to what took place with the Symphonie-Passion, I set to work at once on the written version of my Chemin de la Croix....’

‘All the themes are not only symbolic, but also traditional, one might say. Certain intervals, certain melodic shapes are part of the patrimony of music. I researched how the Masters have agreed on certain formulas, such as the double leap of a fourth for the Cross; we find it in Bach, Handel, Schütz. The theme of Redemption, formed of four conjunct notes, is found in Handel’s Messiah, in Bach’s St John Passion, in Franck’s Beatitudes, in Wagner’s Parsifal. The theme of the Virgin, forming the major triad, is the idea of ‘Genetrix’. The theme of Suffering, composed of a descending chromatic phrase, is found in Bach. These are all themes of traditional symbolism...’

Le Chemin de la Croix is generally recognised as one of Dupré’s most enduring works, and the composer himself retained a special affection for it, playing it every Lent at Saint-Sulpice. Whenever he was asked to programme a complete recital of his own music, he would invariably include a selection of these movements, and he was also drawn to them at times of profound personal emotion, notably his daughter’s funeral in 1963. The dramatic procession of the 14 stations in itself provides a firm basis for the structure, but Dupré controls the tension and balance of the whole with consummate mastery. After the introductory frenzy of the first station, the painful journey begins in No.2, and the ever-increasing intensity of the three Falls (3, 7 and 9) propels the drama to its inexorable climax in the 11th station, when the nails are hammered into the cross, with the intervening movements providing interludes of repose and meditation. After the suspended stillness of Jesus’ death and the brief terror of the earthquake, the tension is gradually dispelled as warmer human emotions come to the fore, and the ‘symbolic themes’ are used with some subtlety to enhance the relationships of the various strands in the drama, culminating in the sublime final station where the theme of death and suffering, floating above the sombre cortège, is miraculously transformed into a theme of eternal life.

Le Chemin de la Croix is considered a landmark in the development of ‘religious programme music’ in France, but it was not quite unique; in particular, one wonders if Dupré was acquainted with the programmatic Symphonie de la Passion (1920) of the French-born Paul de Maleingreau, Professor of Organ at the Brussels Conservatoire. The monumental character of these two works did not encourage wholesale imitation; there is only one other work that can profitably be compared with them, and that is Charles Tournemire’s equally monumental Sept Chorales-Poèmes pour les Sept Paroles du Christ of 1935. Then, of course, there is Dupré’s pupil Olivier Messiaen, who was undoubtedly profoundly influenced by Tournemire, but whose relationship with Dupré is a fascinating, and still largely uncharted area. If Messiaen’s innovative theological speculations come from a spiritual world far removed from Dupré’s essentially traditional illustrations, there is still no doubt that he was inspired by the new techniques and textures of organ-writing in Dupré’s Symphonie-Passion and Chemin, and Dupré’s master-stroke of thematic transformation in the final station immediately calls to mind his pupil’s Diptyque (1930) and Combat de la Mort et de la Vie (1939). This same passage was also an inspiration to Maurice Duruflé, who - consciously or subconsciously - quoted it in the In Paradisum of his Requiem of 1947.

Paul Claudel’s extraordinary (and quite untranslatable) sequence of poems is a very personal meditation on the events of the Procession to Calvary and the Crucifixion of Christ. At the first performance of Le Chemin in Brussels, Dupré’s improvised musical meditations provided a parallel commentary on the bible story. They served as a complement and a foil to the poems, but (as his own commentary makes clear) were in no way inspired by them; it is therefore not necessary to know the poems in order to appreciate the music. The extensive quotations in the notes that follow, and in the preceding paragraphs, are all the composer’s own words, taken from the sleeve notes he wrote for his own recording (Westminster Records, c1958), and from conversations quoted in L’Oeuvre de Marcel Dupré by Abbé R. Delestre (Paris, 1952).

First station: Jesus is condemned to death

‘As soon as Pilate has pronounced the fateful phrase: Gardes, saisissez-vous de cet homme!, the agitation of the crowd, which had calmed for a moment, breaks out again and degenerates into a tumult, in the midst of which one can hear the cries of Barrabas, Jésus, and Qu’il soit crucifié, finally dominated by the clamour: A mort. Then, as the praetorium gradually empties, the cries recede and die away in the distance...’

Second Station: Jesus receives his cross

Above a persistent dotted rhythm, symbolising uneven steps, the theme of the Cross is declaimed by a rasping solo trumpet; proliferating into two and then three voices, it ‘overwhelms with its weight the painful rhythm of the march to Calvary...’

Third Station: Jesus falls for the first time

An ostinato motif of paired descending quavers symbolises the weary steps of Jesus, above which the poignant lament of the theme of Suffering sings out in octaves high in the treble. At the climax of the piece the ostinato moves down to the pedals, but exhaustion overwhelms even the pain; the intensity recedes, and Jesus falls... Silence... ‘However, the hearts of the disciples who follow him are penetrated by the gentle light of Redemption, whose consoling theme illuminates the final bars of the painful scene.’

Fourth Station: Jesus meets his mother

‘The attitude of the Virgin is one of stupor. Down her face, frozen with horror, flow silent tears.....C’est comme une plainte intérieure, qui s’échappe de la musique.’ The theme of the Virgin sings out on a solo flute above a circling, almost motionless chromatic accompaniment on Voix Celeste; the first and last notes of the theme are prolonged, as if frozen in time....Towards the end, in the pedals, there is a brief reminiscence of the ‘weary steps’ motif...

Fifth Station: Simon the Cyrenian helps Jesus to carry the cross

‘The music stresses the tremendous effort which Simon has to make to help carry the burden of the cross, until he succeeds in adjusting his steps to those of Jesus.’ The music of the fifth station is a kind of reworking of the second. Here the uneven steps flow a little easier, but the theme of the Cross is again played by a rasping solo trumpet, first in one voice, symbolising Jesus alone, then by two voices in canon, as Simon attempts to share the burden, and finally by the two voices in unison as their steps finally coincide and the burden is eased.

Sixth Station: Jesus and Veronica

‘The double melody of Compassion sings out in a harmonious, archaic and lightly exotic atmosphere.’ The hypnotic, slightly oriental music of this sixth station represents Dupré at his most poetic and imaginative. The double theme unfolds on the oboe, and the pedals play a hushed reminiscence of the theme of the Cross; at the end the theme of Redemption reappears on the Voix Celeste, ‘sustained by mysterious harmonies’.

Seventh Station: Jesus falls for the second time

‘The bitter ascent resumes, while the turbulent crowd presses on all sides around the tragic procession, and the second fall passes almost unnoticed.’ The music of the second fall is developed from the first, intensifying the "weary steps" motif through the addition of chromatic semiquaver decoration. Again the scene rises to a central climax and then recedes until only the rhythmic pedal figure remains.

Eighth Station: Jesus comforts the women of Jerusalem

‘The Holy Women follow, sad unto death, haunted by the vision of the final sacrifice. The theme of their grief rises up like a lament, to which the consoling voice of Jesus replies. Then the two themes mingle and flow together, tender and soothing.’ This station provides another oasis of calm; the theme of Pity is characterised by expressive diatonic harmonies on gentle flutes, while the voice of Jesus, with his theme of Consolation, is entrusted to a soft trumpet.

Ninth Station: Jesus falls for the third time

‘The crowd is infuriated by the slow progress of the ascent; cries, clamours and insults break out on all sides...’ The violence implicit in the two previous falls now erupts in full fury. The ‘weary steps’ motif is now transformed into a barrage of relentless semiquaver figuration, which is combined with a new theme of Persecution; at the climax, for full organ, the original motif of paired descending steps returns in the pedals, while both the other themes are superimposed above. The final fall is graphic, sudden and violent. It is followed by a long silence, before ‘a few muffled spasms illustrate the crushing of the Victim.’

Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of his clothes

An agitated chromatic scherzo evokes the stripping and flagellation. The violence suddenly ceases, and after another long pause, the moving spectacle of the Saviour’s helpless body inspires a hushed meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation, on the softest 8’ flute.

Eleventh Station: Jesus is nailed to the cross

‘The obsessive rhythm of the hammer blows (theme of Crucifixion), forcing the nails through the hands and feet of Jesus, dominates this station and expresses the implacable cruelty of the executioners, while at times there rises up the heart-rending lament of the theme of Suffering.’

Twelfth Station: Jesus dies upon the cross

Broken solo phrases on the Vox Humana evoke the seven last words of Christ, which include a reprise of his theme of Consolation. As the last phrase falls away, the earth begins to tremble, and after a momentary cataclysm the disciples are left alone and desolate...

Thirteenth Station: The body of Jesus is taken from the cross and laid in Mary’s bosom

A flowing scherzo for flutes evokes the tenderness of the descent from the cross, and the station ends with a poignant quotation from the fourth station, as Mary is reunited with the body of her son.

Fourteenth Station: The body of Jesus is laid in the tomb

The sad cortège escorts the body to the tomb; the theme of Pity gradually intensifies from a single voice to a full texture, and the music blossoms into a final development of the theme of Suffering. As this recedes, the pedals initiate a muffled drum beat which underpins the resumption of the cortége, in a passage that evokes an extraordinary atmosphere of muted, hopeless grief. But finally the miracle occurs: the gates of paradise are opened, and the theme of Suffering is transformed into a ‘theme of the Fruits of Redemption’, played, in Delestre’s evocative description, ‘by three distant flutes, above muted Celestes. The muffled drum is transformed into the mysterious chime of a repeated mediant pedal: a vision of immaterial, transparent sweetness, which opens a door on the Beyond, and seems to prolong into eternal peace the religious emotion of this ineffable conclusion.’

Page revised Friday May 25 2007