VIERNE: Organ Symphonies Nos. 3 and 6

The first of a three-part series of the famous Organ Symphonies this release commemorates the 75th anniversary of the death of organist composer and pedagogue Louis Vierne. These earliest of the Organ Symphonies steeped in rich timbres cyclic forms and the mysticism of Vierne's religious background are performed on the Goll organ of St. Martin Memmingen.

"•Between 1899 and 1930, Vierne wrote six organ symphonies of hitherto unknown richness in timbres, mysticism and cyclical architecture. • With this volume, the three-part audite recording of the six Louis Vierne organ symphonies is complete. • The St. Martin Goll organ creates unobtrusive power and fullness of sound yet remains clear. • The work's polyphonic structures become distinct and the transparency of sound permits freshly considered tempi. Hans-Eberhard Roß is Director of Church Music in Memmingen."

Audite continues the three-part complete recordings of Louis Vierne's organ symphonies with the third and fourth symphonies. Recorded at the Goll organ of St. Martin in Memmingen, the recording is characterized by the warm, soft sound of the organ. It's sound creates unobtrusive power and fullness, making a symphonic effect in the church interior and yet always remaining clear.

Louis Vierne will always be best remembered as one France’s most outstanding organ composers, but his piano works are part of a significant wider oeuvre and notable for their colourful and inspired inventiveness. Each of the Douze Préludes carries an evocative title in music filled with the pain and tumult of war and loss, while the epitaphs in Solitude were composed shortly after the deaths of Vierne’s brother and eldest son. Including recently published manuscripts, this is the second of two albums covering repertoire that deserves a place in the pantheon of French piano music.

Daniel Roth, widely acclaimed as one of the leading French organ virtuosos, has held several prestigious positions as both performer and teacher.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Classical Music

VIERNE Piano Quintet in c. String Quartet in d • Spiegel Str Qrt; Levente Kende (pn) • MDG 644 1505 (58:18)


For many a music-lover from across the ocean, the Spiegel String Quartet won’t sound familiar. However, the ensemble (founded in 1996) has embarked on some really exciting projects throughout the years, among which are several critically acclaimed concerts. Together with the Danel Quartet, they are among Belgium’s leading chamber ensembles. For this occasion, the Spiegel Quartet works with Hungarian-born pianist Levente Kende. This talented and experienced artist frequently performs all over the world, and chose Belgium as his permanent home base.


The music of Louis Vierne is often seriously underestimated; although it’s frequently regarded as unoriginal and second-rate, it’s sensitive, distinguished, and absolutely fascinating music. Vierne can be seen as one of the tragic figures of the late 19th century in French Romanticism; he was extremely unlucky with his health (he was virtually blind), and suffered the loss of some of his closest family members—among whom were his brother and his son. These emotional struggles are clearly reflected in his music. Some will feel a strong sense of melancholy and sadness, but one cannot deny that the world he created is extremely sensitive, nevertheless. The Quintet op. 42 consists of three movements, of which only the last is an outspoken Allegro. The other two (Moderato and Larghetto) render a vibrant and colorful canvas of gently developing harmony. The String Quartet op. 12 is Vierne’s first serious chamber music composition: he wrote it at the age of 24 and it’s brighter and more vivid than the Quintet.


The Spiegel Quartet and Levente Kende offer a warm and natural performance. The group sounds well balanced, with structured phrasing, particularly the middle voices. Violinist Elisa Kawaguchi plays delicately but lacks proper leadership—she remains far too careful throughout and leaves the initiative to her colleagues. Jan Sciffer’s cello is warm and full-bodied; clearly phrased with a refined articulation. Levente Kende is mostly known for his particular feeling with chamber music. He proves to be a reliable partner who understands the art of contributing to the music by means of coloring and supporting his partners.


A fine alternative recording is to be found on Hyperion with Stephen Coombs and the Chilingirian Quartet (a recording of both piano quartets). It’s an impressive disc with Hyperion standards—a reflective approach to Vierne’s music.


MDG captures a clear sound image, albeit a little over-reverberant. The recording was made in a renovated barn (the exact German word “Ackerhaus” is tough to translate), and the acoustics are not really ideal for this recording. However, the overall impression is one of professional work on all levels.


FANFARE: Bart Verhaeghe

Classical Music

Louis Vierne inhabits a unique place in the development of the Organ Symphony. Following in the footsteps of his teacher, Charles-Marie Widor, Vierne brought the organ symphony to its pinnacle with his six symphonies, written between 1895 and 1930. Symphonic in style, structure, and form rather than forces, these solo organ works are exquisite composition examples of the last great late French Romantic organ composer. As the thirty-one movements of these symphonies offer a staggering variety of character, from majestic to whimsical, and from deep despair to unbridled joy; the venues offer an equally broad variety of organs and acoustics.

Concert Organist Eric Plutz performs the Complete Organ Symphonies of Louis Vierne superbly and spectacularly on six separate organs around the United States from New York to Texas. This album is the culmination of “The Vierne Project,” a series of performances of the complete Vierne organ symphonies in celebration of the composer’s 150th birthday in 2020. The University Organist at Princeton University, Plutz is one of only a handful of organists to embark on such a venture. As an organ concert soloist, he has performed on distinguished and historic instruments across the United States and abroad including in Germany, Austria, and France.

On her newest release, soprano Amy Pfrimmer presents the songs of Louis Vierne. Pfrimmer is Associate Professor of Music and the Lillian Gerson Watsky Professor in Voice at Tulane University where she has been voice area coordinator and director of the vocal music concert series since 2007. Her repertoire and creative work encompasses a wide range of music, with particular focus on Romantic and 20th Century opera, oratorio, concert literature, and song. She is joined by pianist Peter Collins. Peter Collins holds the distinction of Professor Emeritus of Music at Missouri State University. He was a member of the Piano Faculty from 1993 to 2017 and served as Keyboard Area Coordinator from 1996 to 2016. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory under the instruction of Lillian Freundlich.

Louis Vierne is renowned as one of the most brilliant of all French organ composers. His piano works are little known despite their colourful, imaginative and inspiring treatment of the instrument. The early Deux Pièces owe their lyrical style to Mendelssohn, while the Suite bourguignonne exudes an atmosphere of joie de vivre and romantic contentment. Impressionism can be heard in the Trois Nocturnes, the third of which is considered one of Vierne’s masterpieces with its evocative use of birdsong, while the shadows of war echo in the solemn Poème des cloches funèbres. This is the first of two albums covering repertoire that deserves a place in the pantheon of French piano music.

REViEW:

The overall impact of Volume 1 is wide-ranging. The musical style stretches from the Romantic character piece to post-Impressionism. The compositions on this album are placed in chronological order.

The playing by Sergio Monteiro captures the magic of this music. He can seize Vierne’s “colourful, imaginative and inspiring” approach to the piano. The recording is superb. The liner notes by Peter Siepmann are excellent; they give a brief overview of the composer’s life and achievement, detailed notes about each piece, and successfully manages to fit them into Vierne’s overall achievement. Bearing in mind that there are few other sources of information about this music, they make essential reading.

I enjoyed this exploration of Louis Vierne’s piano oeuvre. To whom will this disc appeal? I guess that listeners who appreciate the great tradition of French piano music, from Alkan to Messiaen. It fills a gap that has been ignored by most recitalists and I look forward to the second volume soon.

– MusicWeb International

Organ works account for only 17 of Vierne’s 62 opus numbers, and yet no one would now question his status as the organ’s greatest symphonist after Franck and Widor. His six symphonies stand at the pinnacle of the 20th-century literature for the instrument: the six-movement First Symphony with its fugue and celebrated Final (‘my Marseillaise’, as he referred to it); the Second, his masterpiece, with its scintillating scherzo; the Third, the shortest and most concise; the Fourth, whose tortured outer movements are in sharp contrast to the buoyant Menuet and sumptuous Romance; the Fifth, the longest, and in many respects the most elevated; his Sixth and last, the most harmonically advanced and psychologically complex, rising from the depths of despair to ebullience in its rampant Final.

In complement to the symphonies, Vierne composed several suites of pieces ‘in a free style’, as well as more impressionistically conceived sets of fantasy pieces. Music specifically designed for the liturgy includes a pair of organ masses – one of them a requiem – and a triptych of meditations. Whether reflective and deeply etched with chromaticism or ebullient and thunderous, all of Vierne’s output for his own instrument is conceived with the sound and tonal variety of Cavaillé-Coll’s organ’s in mind – one of the largest of all being the organ at Notre Dame in Paris, where Vierne occupied the post of titular organist for many decades.

The German-American organist Wolfgang Rübsam has himself been counted among the finest living organists for many decades, internationally known through over a hundred highly acclaimed albums of organ repertoire from the Baroque and Romantic periods including recent Bach recordings on the lute-harpsichord for Brilliant Classics: ‘These lovely performances memorably showcase Rübsam’s sensitive and poetic side.’ -Classics Today

REVIEW:

Louis Vierne composed sixty-two opus-numbered works, most of which were for the organ. His organ oeuvre consists of 6 symphonies, 2 low masses, 24 pieces in the free style and 4 volumes of fantasies. Away from the organ, his other music includes orchestral, chamber, song cycles and church music. His organ works were written with a specific type of instrument in mind, those built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899), who revived organ building in France to produce “the symphonic organ”. Rübsam performs on three organs in this collection: Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Organ at Saint-François-de-Sales, Lyon, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Organ at Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts, Paris and the Ernest M. Skinner Organ at Rockerfeller Memorial Chapel, Chicago. Full specifications of each instrument are included in the booklet.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable set, well recorded and well apportioned. For those coming to Vierne for the first time, this comprehensive collection will provide the ideal primer.

-- MusicWeb International