Gothic
Maurice & Marie-Madeleine Chevalier Durufle at the Organ
$19.99
Details
- Artist
- Maurice, Marie-Madeleine, Duruflé, Durufle
- Format
- CD
- Label
- Gothic
- Released
- Sep 17, 2009
- Catalog #
- GOT 49107
- UPC
- 000334910723
About
The performance of Duruflé's transcription for 2 organs of Handel's 8th Organ Concerto is a tour de force. Mere words become woefully irrelevant.
Originally recorded in 1967 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, this release projects, among other virtues, a tangible sense of occasion. The shrine's two organs had been installed and dedicated in 1965, but the Duruflés' recital of two years later was the first to utilize both instruments simultaneously, in Marcel Duruflé's transcription for two organs of the eighth of Handel's 16 concertos for organ and orchestra. That was, by the evidence on this release, a performance tour de force. The two instruments (the great and the chancel organ) are separated by a distance of some 300 feet, a virtual city block. The Duruflés overcame that vast and vastly disorienting sonic space by resorting to the sounds transmitted via telephone headsets rather than those of the acoustic surround. The result is a breathtaking synchronici-ty of attack and release, not merely of purely technical precision, but of musical affect as well.
Clarity and precision, not merely that of getting the right fingers to the right keys and pedals in a timely fashion, but of going, straightaway, to the heart of the musical discourse at hand, inform each track on this release. The little Schumann Canon in B Minor projects a playfulness that underscores its inherent irony. The Tournemire piece (a vast improvisation by that composer subsequently reconstituted by her husband) becomes, appropriately, César Franck on speed. Mme. Duruflé's clear-eyed realization of its every Easter-chant-derived iota converts it into a grippingly human drama, at once horrifying and consoling.
Of the incense-tinged Prelude and Fugue of Marcel Duruflé, I will say nothing. Mere words become woefully irrelevant.
If you've been lulled to sleep by my verbosity, wake up and get this one before it becomes, as is so much of the best that music has to offer, unavailable.
-- William Zagorski, FANFARE [1/2000]
Originally recorded in 1967 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, this release projects, among other virtues, a tangible sense of occasion. The shrine's two organs had been installed and dedicated in 1965, but the Duruflés' recital of two years later was the first to utilize both instruments simultaneously, in Marcel Duruflé's transcription for two organs of the eighth of Handel's 16 concertos for organ and orchestra. That was, by the evidence on this release, a performance tour de force. The two instruments (the great and the chancel organ) are separated by a distance of some 300 feet, a virtual city block. The Duruflés overcame that vast and vastly disorienting sonic space by resorting to the sounds transmitted via telephone headsets rather than those of the acoustic surround. The result is a breathtaking synchronici-ty of attack and release, not merely of purely technical precision, but of musical affect as well.
Clarity and precision, not merely that of getting the right fingers to the right keys and pedals in a timely fashion, but of going, straightaway, to the heart of the musical discourse at hand, inform each track on this release. The little Schumann Canon in B Minor projects a playfulness that underscores its inherent irony. The Tournemire piece (a vast improvisation by that composer subsequently reconstituted by her husband) becomes, appropriately, César Franck on speed. Mme. Duruflé's clear-eyed realization of its every Easter-chant-derived iota converts it into a grippingly human drama, at once horrifying and consoling.
Of the incense-tinged Prelude and Fugue of Marcel Duruflé, I will say nothing. Mere words become woefully irrelevant.
If you've been lulled to sleep by my verbosity, wake up and get this one before it becomes, as is so much of the best that music has to offer, unavailable.
-- William Zagorski, FANFARE [1/2000]
Tracklist 8 tracks
-
1 Fugue in C Major, BuxWV 174 02:55
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Fugue in C Major, BuxWV 174
- Duration
- 02:55
- Composer
- Dieterich Buxtehude
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé
-
2 Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf, BWV 1092 02:48
- Track
- 2
- Title
- Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf, BWV 1092
- Duration
- 02:48
- Composer
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé
-
3 I. Ouverture 07:16
- Track
- 3
- Title
- I. Ouverture
- Duration
- 07:16
- Composer
- George Frideric Handel
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé, Marie-Madeleine Durufle
-
4 II. Adagio 01:39
- Track
- 4
- Title
- II. Adagio
- Duration
- 01:39
- Composer
- George Frideric Handel
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé, Marie-Madeleine Durufle
-
5 III. Allegro 03:16
- Track
- 5
- Title
- III. Allegro
- Duration
- 03:16
- Composer
- George Frideric Handel
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé, Marie-Madeleine Durufle
-
6 Studien für den Pedal-Flügel (Studies for Pedal Piano), Op. 56: No. 5 in B Minor: Nicht zu schnell 03:11
- Track
- 6
- Title
- Studien für den Pedal-Flügel (Studies for Pedal Piano), Op. 56: No. 5 in B Minor: Nicht zu schnell
- Duration
- 03:11
- Composer
- Robert Schumann
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé
-
7 5 Improvisations: No. 5. Choral Improvisation sur le Victimae Paschali 09:42
- Track
- 7
- Title
- 5 Improvisations: No. 5. Choral Improvisation sur le Victimae Paschali
- Duration
- 09:42
- Composer
- Charles Tournemire
- Performer
- Marie-Madeleine Durufle
-
8 Prelude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Op. 7 11:14
- Track
- 8
- Title
- Prelude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Op. 7
- Duration
- 11:14
- Composer
- Maurice Duruflé
- Performer
- Maurice Duruflé