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Duruflé: Complete Organ Music / Henry Fairs
Naxos

Duruflé: Complete Organ Music / Henry Fairs

$19.99 Only 3 left

Details

Composer
DURUFLE, MAURICE
Artist
Henry Fairs
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
May 29, 2007
Catalog #
8557924
UPC
747313292424

About



DURUFLÉ Fugue on the Carillon of the Cathedral of Soissons. Prelude, Adagio, and Choral Variations on “Veni Creator.” Prelude on the Introit of the Epiphany. Scherzo, op. 2. Prelude and Fugue on the Name of Alain. Meditation, op. posth. Hommage à Jean Gallon. Suite, op. 5 • Henry Fairs (org) • NAXOS 8.557924 (73:21)


Duruflé, a student of Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne, is unabashedly post-Romantic. His music is characterized by lyrical sweetness even when it is Plainchant derived or contrapuntally rigorous. For a recording to be successful, it must convey more than a dollop of atmosphere, the full impact of his delicate registration colors, and linear clarity. All of these prerequisites are fulfilled in these performances by Henry Fairs and his aptly chosen Organ of Notre-Dame d’Auteuil, Paris (Cavaillé-Coll 1884–1885).


This release encounters worthy competition from a Loft offering featuring Hans Davidsson performing on the Verschueren Organ, 1998, Göteborg, Sweden (Loft 1054), and a Sanctuary Classics Resonance disc featuring David M. Patrick on the Organ of Gloucester Cathedral (3073). In Meditation , op. Posth., Fairs is more meditative than the estimable David M. Patrick, and his pedal tones are more impressively recorded. In the feathery Scherzo, op. 2, Fairs is a bit more otherworldly than Patrick, and, as before, his pedal tones are more viscerally registered. The more dynamically varied Suite, op. 5, is given a splendid performance by Hans Davidsson on Loft, a company that has provided more than its fair share of stunning organ recordings. Davidsson’s recording is more close-up and timbrally colorful than Fairs’s, but doesn’t quite pack the full wallop of the piece’s pedal tones. The Loft effort has marginally less dynamic range than Naxos’s. Both performances are splendid. One’s preference will probably be dictated by the tolerance of one’s neighbors—the Loft offering has more impact when played at lower levels than does Fairs’s, which requires cranking things up a bit in order to taste it to the fullest degree.


In sum, this is a fine effort. The two comparison discs offer multi-composer collections, but Naxos, in its ongoing attempt to record the everything of everybody, dedicates its entire disc (which claims to contain his entire organ output) to Duruflé. Add to this Naxos’s budget price, and . . .


Typically, full organ specs are provided in the well-written and highly informative liner notes.


FANFARE: William Zagorski

Tracklist 13 tracks

  1. 1 Fugue sur le theme du Carillon des Heures de la Cathedrale de Soissons, Op. 12 03:30
    Track
    1
    Title
    Fugue sur le theme du Carillon des Heures de la Cathedrale de Soissons, Op. 12
    Duration
    03:30
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  2. 2 Prelude 08:02
    Track
    2
    Title
    Prelude
    Duration
    08:02
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  3. 3 Adagio 06:16
    Track
    3
    Title
    Adagio
    Duration
    06:16
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  4. 4 Choral varie 05:51
    Track
    4
    Title
    Choral varie
    Duration
    05:51
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  5. 5 Prelude sur l'introit de l'Epiphanie, Op. 13 02:15
    Track
    5
    Title
    Prelude sur l'introit de l'Epiphanie, Op. 13
    Duration
    02:15
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  6. 6 Scherzo, Op. 2 06:01
    Track
    6
    Title
    Scherzo, Op. 2
    Duration
    06:01
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  7. 7 Prelude 06:38
    Track
    7
    Title
    Prelude
    Duration
    06:38
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  8. 8 Fugue 05:57
    Track
    8
    Title
    Fugue
    Duration
    05:57
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  9. 9 Meditation, Op. posth. 03:43
    Track
    9
    Title
    Meditation, Op. posth.
    Duration
    03:43
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  10. 10 Chant Donne - Hommage a Jean Gallon 01:54
    Track
    10
    Title
    Chant Donne - Hommage a Jean Gallon
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  11. 11 I. Prelude 08:08
    Track
    11
    Title
    I. Prelude
    Duration
    08:08
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  12. 12 II. Sicilienne 06:57
    Track
    12
    Title
    II. Sicilienne
    Duration
    06:57
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs
  13. 13 III. Toccata 08:08
    Track
    13
    Title
    III. Toccata
    Duration
    08:08
    Composer
    Maurice Duruflé
    Performer
    Henry Fairs