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Site Search: Use the search box to find an artiste, composer, title, or venue on this site |
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Listening position:
Relax with your choice(s) of beverage, in a place of your choosing, alone, or with members of your household or your bubble |
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We open today's concert with a stunning improvisation by top Parisian organist Olivier Latry, organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, since 1985.
Latry is renowned for his improvisational skills as well as for his organ-playing in general. You will find a biography of Olivier Latry, in French and English, on this link. Let's listen to the improvisation: The organ is one of the few interior survivors of Notre-Dame's devastating April 2019 fire, although it will need major restoration work. Nearly 8000 pipes make this the second largest organ not just in Paris, but in the whole of France. |
Olivier Latry (b1962, Boulogne-sur-Mer) Improvisation for Fugue State Films (2011) on the 1868 Cavaillé-Coll organ of Notre-Dame de Paris |
Grand orgue, beneath the rose window in the west end of Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris - click on any picture to expand it
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'montre' or casework of the former positif of Clicquot's organ, and the Cavaillé-Coll style curved console
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The modern console, with the original porcelain heads on the drawstops
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Marcel Dupré (1886, Rouen - 1971) Cortège et Litanie Op 16 No 2 (1923) performed by Olivier Latry, on the 1868 Cavillé-Coll organ of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris |
There is something rather magical about the sound of an obviously giant instrument played quietly in an enormous building. That is why I have picked out this recording of a work by one of Olivier Latry's predecessors, Marcel Dupré, Cortège and Litany. |
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Our next church is St-Eustache, beside the old market area in the heart of Paris - Les Halles. It's an easy stroll from here to the Louvre, or to the Centre Pompidou and on into the Marais.
The original 13th century church on this spot was dedicated to St Agnes. By 1223 it was a parish, renamed St-Eustache. In 1532 the decision was made to build a church of a stature more suited to the centre of Paris. The blend of styles - Gothic elevation, Roman curves, and Renaissance ornaments - make this a quite unique building. Over the centuries construction was frequently slowed down, or stopped altogether by lack of funds. Even today, the south tower remains unfinished. The present organ is referred to as the Van Den Heuvel instrument. Here is a quote from the wikipedia entry: The organ originally constructed by P.-A. Ducroquet was powerful enough for the premiere of Hector Berlioz's titanic Te Deum to be performed at St-Eustache in 1855. It was later modified under the direction of Joseph Bonnet. The present organ of St. Eustache was designed by Jean-Louis Coignet under the direction of Titular Organist Jean Guillou and dates from 1989 when it was almost entirely rebuilt by Dutch firm Van Den Heuvel, retaining a few ranks of pipes from the former organ and the wooden case, which is original. 
St Eustache, West front, with its unfinished south tower
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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Fugue in D minor BWV 532 (c1710) performed by Jean Guillou (1930-2019) the music begins around 2m20 The organ has 5 manuals plus pedals, and 800 pipes serving 101 stops. 
St-Eustache close to the city's markets, Les Halles
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Van Den Heuvel organ, in its original casework, sitting above the West Door of St-Eustache
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Although an Anglican, this is my church when I am in Paris, so I have often heard the late and brilliant organist Jean Guillou. Wikipedia entries in French or English will tell you more about both church and organ, including full registration. If you would like to delve further into the sound and details of this instrument, you could do no better than to watch this 15-minute video tour, where your guides are St-Eustache organists Thomas Ospital and Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard. They were appointed in 2015 when Jean Guillou became organist emeritus. The video is in French, but the English subtitles are excellent. |
Jean Gillou at the original console of the St-Eustache organ
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Before we leave St-Eustache let's listen to Basque organist Thomas Ospital, playing Debussy's Danse (Tarantelle Styrienne). We expect a tarantella to come from Southern Italy, yet here Debussy adds the word Styrienne, a region of Austria, in vogue at the time.
In his 1901 revision, he dropped the original title in favour of simply Danse. After his death, the piece was orchestrated by Ravel Originally written for piano, Therry Hirsch has transcribed the work for organ. If you'd like to play the piece it is available here. Luxemburger Dr Hirsch has an MA in Latin Philology and Musicology from the University of Tübingen, Germany, a certificate in Justice and Moral Philosophy from Harvard, and a D Phil in classical languages and literature from Oxford. He is organist of Luxemburg's St Martin's, Dudelange, a church we have visited in earlier recordings. |
Achille Claude Debussy (1862-1918) arr for organ: Thierry Hirsch (b1999) Danse (Tarantelle Styrienne) CD 77, L69 (1890, revd 1901) Production: Pierre-François Dub-Attenti (of whom we shall see more later) |
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Here is the reason I did not name the concert 'Great' Organs of Paris. Some of the city's organs are rather less than 'Great'.
The Limonaire organ and fairground equipment firm was established in Paris in 1840 by brothers Joseph and Antoine. In the early 20th century they would also make pianos mécaniques (player-pianos, with a self-playing mechanism). The firm produced barrel organs (orgues portatifs à cylindre) and organs like the orgue orchestre here, which were designed to be used at fairs and dances. The strange fact about this well-cared for Parisian instrument is the tune it is playing. You may recognise it as the opening sequence from the film Battle of Britain for which it was titled Luftwaffe March. Its British composer, Ron Goodwin, renamed the piece Aces High, and it has become a staple of British military and brass bands under that title. The true Luftwaffe regimental march is called Flieger-Parade and was written by Gustav Rath in the early 1930s. It lends itself well to being given a jazz swing which you can hear in other youtube recordings. We shall linger in the streets of Paris for a short while longer. Let us listen to a modern orgue de barbarie. This video shows details of the instrument and how it works, while the operator turns the handle for the familiar Sous les Ponts de Paris. |
Ronald Alfred Goodwin (1925-2003) from the filmscore for Battle of Britain(1969) Aces High (originally Luftwaffe March) Gustav Rath Flieger-Parade (1932) |
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Michel-Maurice Lévy (1883-1965) from the film score for Clodoche, or Sous les Ponts de Paris Sous les Ponts de Paris (1938) If you have 5,300 to 21,000 euros to spare you might like to visit the Odin workshops in the village of St-Just-St-Rambert, near St Étienne where you can purchase your own orgue de barbarie. |
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Before I add my words I am going to place you in the expert hands, fingers, heels and toes of English pianist, organist and conductor Wayne Marshall. We are in the 2400-seat Grande salle Pierre Boulez, of the Philharmonie de Paris, where he has available to him 6605 pipes, which is, apparently, 25 tonnes of wood and metal, put together by Rieger Orgelbau. Wayne uses the 91 stops to improvise on a very well known tune, as the audience reaction attests. |
Wayne Marshall (b1961) Improvisation Cancan (February 2016) for the inauguration of the Rieger Organ in the Grande salle Pierre Boulez, at the Philharmonie de Paris |
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Aram Il'yich Katchaturian (1903-1978)
from the ballet Gayane (1939-41) Sabre Dance https://youtu.be/m4MkmDAxttA |
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Next we return to the centre of Paris, this time to the church of Saint-Sulpice. This video features a young organist playing the grand orgue after mass, after Daniel Roth has finished his closing improvisation.
American tutor, Larry Correll, brings along his student for the Master to hear. Look out for the exchange of knowing glances between the tutor and the Master (nearest the camera). It happens a couple of times early and late in the video. You'll see see Daniel Roth helping out with registration so the student has the best experience of this organ. To gain Daniel Roth's approval at such a young age tells us much about this student. He is Aaron Shows, and this is March 2011. Today Aaron Shows is a composer, pianist, and the organist of the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, California, with no fewer than 19 film and TV music credits to his name (on IMDB) |
Eugène Gigout (1844-1925) Toccata in G minor (1890) |
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Last week the cellist Carter Brey told us about the life of the orchestral musician. This week we meet organist Daniel Roth in the unusual role of an orchestral player, just one of the musicians playing their (albeit significant) part in the performance of a symphony.
St Sulpice is the second largest church in Paris (after Notre-Dame) and since the fire it has had to step up to perform as temporary National Church and home of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Paris. You will get to see the size of the church at the very end of the video. Here we have the 'tribune' or organ-loft view of proceedings - so we won't be seeing the orchestra. And I daresay some will add 'we don't hear much of them either'. It's true. This is about organs. And you will certainly find more balanced recordings of Saint-Saëns' organ symphony! You will see Daniel Roth counting as he holds those great chords, marked for a full 6 beats. You will soon feel that the bars are alternating between 6 beats and 9 beats, even while the strings are playing and the organ rests for the first two beats of a 6-beat bar. Now we see the score. And there it is, each bar of 9/4 followed by one of 6/4. The organ rests for the first beat of 9 and then come the chords, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. (The melody fits in English as you count out two, three, four, five six, sev- en, eight, nine!) You will see Pierre-François Dub-Attenti's head dip in and out of the foreground as he checks his notes, and later as he reaches a foot out to a pedal that will change some stops, or link or unlink manuals. He and Luc di Gallo lean forward to read the score. There follows an orchestral section, and after a while you will hear the sounds of organ parts moving while Daniel Roth is not playing. This is where his registrants are using pedals to change stops and link manuals. As promised, at the end we see the scale of this magnificent church. Two purely practical questions come to mind... who turned all those chairs round? And who will be turning them back to face the altar? If my meanderings have detracted from the music, why not click on the video again and listen through unhindered by my remarks. Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns from Symphony No 3 'avec orgue' in C minor Op 78 (1886) II Maestoso - Allegro majestic - Fast performed by Daniel Roth, organist of St Sulpice Church, Paris and Orchestre Les Siècles, director François-Xavier Roth (Daniel's son) |
St Sulpice was built in stages between 1646 and 1870, interrupted by the Fronde and by the Revolution. It is the latter we have to thank for the towers not being identical. The fountain has statues of four bishops who never became cardinals so it has attracted the sarcastic nickname, the fountain of the cardinal points.
Above we see the interior of St-Sulpice, looking west towards the organ tribune. In the videos we have been up there behind the clock. Now aged 77, Daniel Roth has been in post since 1985. Previous organists here include the Clérambaults, Lefébure-Wely, Widor, and Marcel Dupré. The organ began life as a Clicquot instrument, built between 1776 and 1781. In 1862 Aristide Cavaillé-Coll rebuilt it using much existing material, making this his largest instrument, with 102 stops and 7300 pipes - the largest in France at that time. You will find full registration information of this instrument, of the smaller Cavaillé-Coll choir organ, and much more about the church in the wikipedia entry . |
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We no longer end our evening entertainments with the National Anthem, but I could think of no better way to end a trip around some of the Organs of Paris than Olivier Latry's wonderful improvisation on La Marseillaise. I wonder how British people would react to an improvisation on God Save the Queen. I am sure every newspaper in the land would express an opinion, and probably none of them positive. Producer: Peter Steadman |
Olivier Latry Improvisation on La Marseillaise (2015) in memory of the victims of the attacks in the Paris region on 13 November 2015 |
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You are sure to find The Organs of Paris an excellent guide to organs and organ-building around Paris. Plenty of indexes - churches, builders, decades. videos. A very informative site. In English & French (parallel versions) click on image or: www.organsparisn.vhhil.nl |
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This is the site of the Association Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. If your French is up to it, this is another very informative site. When I checked, the US version was not working. |
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Wednesday at the Organ - Online
Clocks & Cathedrals Clocks? Yes, Haydn wrote for musical, or flute, clocks. We also have music by: Stanford, Karg-Elert, Philip Wilby, Herbert Howells and Louis Vierne's Carillon de Westminster, & Carillon de Longpont - organ music inspired by bells access this organ concert: by clicking on the date or on the clock or organ pictures Venue: this website and a place of your choosing |
musical clock or flötenuhr
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 David Massey & Francisco Correa
Music on Thursdays - Online
Guitars & Friends artistes: David Massey, Francisco Correa, Hugh Millington, Saki Kato, guitars Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia Emily Andrews, flute & mezzo-soprano (CarmenCo) Music by: Agustín Barrios • Joaquín Turina • Joãa Pernambuco • JS Bach • Stephen Goss • Geoffrey Poole • Isaac Albéniz • Georges Bizet • Manuel de Falla access this concert: by clicking on the date or on the duo picture Venue: this website and a place of your choosing |
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Music on Thursdays - Online
String Quartet Concert Beethoven & Haydn artistes: Alban Berg Quartett • Jasper String Quartet plus a Haydn encore piece performed by the Tetra String Quartet access concert: by clicking on the date or the pictures Venue: this website and a place of your choosing |
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Music on Thursdays - Online
Cello Tango with 52 cellists music by Piazzolla • Albéniz • Carter Brey • Carlos Gardel • Villa-Lobos access concert: by clicking on the date or the picture Venue: this website and a place of your choosing |
Carter Brey, principal cellist, New York Symphonia
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