Notre Dame de Paris: Vierne plays Bach (1929 recording)
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- Organ scholars alert !! Audiophiles beware !! This recording was made in 1929, the very first year that sound was recorded electronically. It's striking that, with all the musical alternatives in Paris at that time, the engineers thought that one of the most intriguing ways to use this novel invention was to squeeze their cumbersome equipment up the narrow stairway to Notre Dame's balcony/tribune to record Vierne. And yes, folks, the performance sounds lethargic & ponderous to our sophisticated ears. But this was the standard performance practice of baroque music in the early 20th century.
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I totally agree with this. Bach would have loved to play this organ. He would have loved to use all the reeds with dramatic effect. I think Vierne's interpretation is very grand and compelling....but then it is Louis Vierne!
Glad I'm no cognoscente. The first part sounds heavenly to me. Good thing I don't know from ponderous and lethargic...
Thanks for posting this. What a rare privilege to hear some of the earliest electronically-recorded music; and from such a marvelous instrument.
Vierne was nearly 60 years old when he made this recording. His concentration and clarity of phrasing and attention to detail are all amazing to me. I've sat thru many a modern recital where these attributes are missing entirely.
Thanks for all your posts. You have placed a huge collection of unique treasures on RUclips for all to enjoy and be educated by.
i know it is quite randomly asking but do anyone know a good website to watch new series online ?
I'm so glad that someone was able to capture that moment in time, even if some argue that it's a primitive recording. Louis Vierne and his fantastic Cavaille-Coll organ before it was modified. I think its shameful how so many CC organs lost their original voicing's.
Astounding high fidelity quality for 1929! I'm deeply impressed.
I'm always pleased when folks are open to the revelations of the gospel ;-)
Sorry, no more Vierne playing Bach. If I locate some, I'll upload it.
And you're right about C-C instruments. They're the masterworks of a genius.
Many people forget that just because Bach's home organ didn't have a 32' reed DOESN'T MEAN HE WOULDN'T HAVE USED IT HAD HE HAD ONE!!! In those days they were very rare so more than likely he never would have included it in his registration. Weingarten has one, St. Bavo in Harlem has one, so they DO exist back in the day so to anyone who criticizes someone for using it in Bach should do their research. Not all Bach must be played like a typewriter in perfect time and with only Organ Plenum
Le Grand Louis Vierne joue Bach à son orgue de Notre-Dame de Paris en... 1929!!! sans doute un des tout 1ers enregistrement d'orgue!! C'est le style de l'époque...mais ça a de la gueule!!! Quel grand bonhomme!! :-)
I'm a big fan of St. Ouen in Rouen. That comes closer to perfection than any other instrument in the world, particularly when you take into account the organ & the room it plays in. St. Ouen has a tutti that just makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
WOW!!!
A organist worthy of his instrument!
this is a true treasure of history..that's really good sound for a 1929 recording! thx for sharing it w/ us.
RIP Notre Dame, April 15th 2019.
Catastrophic
@@a55b47 beyond words...
It's amazing how our ideas about music have changed over the years, isn't it? I've got a few more interesting things left in the Christmas stocking. Stay tuned ;-)
Wow, what a Cavaillé-Coll sound!
Just amazing, especially when you compare it to the present instrument!
Electrical recording in the United States was first introduced by Orlando Marsh of Chicago in about 1924. The Victor Company began using it about a year or so later.
While there are those who would be critical of this performance, it must be remembered that the Notre Dame organ wasn't in the best condition at this time, and musicology hadn't yet become the field it is today. Vierne's conception is quite stately and grandiose. Given the size of the room, this was the best approach.
A marvellous historic recording !!
Oh my lord!! I'm learning this piece now!
Now I can use this recording as a reference to my own phrasing!
I agree.
Thanks so much for making this available for us to hear.
I see most of the comments were made a long time ago. For what it's worth, the first LP I ever bought in 1962, at age 15, was of Pierre Cochereau playing Bach at Notre Dame. It would have been recorded in the 50s, and the interpretation and tempi are remarkably similar. I'd post a portion on RUclips if I knew how, but it's so thoroughly worn now that folk wouldn't like it.
Some people earlier in this thread called it "stately," rather than ponderous. I kind of like that description. ;-)
I'm a listener, not a player, also. There are very few recordings of Vierne performing his own work: most -- if not all -- of them have been uploaded to RUclips. Whether it was 1925 or 1929, Vierne's recordings were definitely in the infancy (childhood?) of electronic recording, & the logistics of capturing Vierne's performances were pretty daunting. There are several recordings of his symphonies I'd recommend: Cochereau from the mid/late 70's & Filsell @ St. Ouen from just s few years ago.
Don't know why it took me so long to find this post, but wow, this is awesome! I have often wondered about the effect of early recording technology on musical styles. If one listens to early recordings, particularly the old mechanically recorded things, there is a strange interpretation of the music, almost a "jerky" style. Was that interpretation the style of the day, or dictated by the primitive recording methodologies of the day? Perhaps someone has that answer. Thanks for this post!!
Recordings made before 1929 were acoustic recordings made by using a diaphragm to transmit sound to a wax cylinder. In 1929, they started using electrically-transmitted signals rather than acoustic -- hence the last word in the phrase you cited.
Louis Vierne is FANTASTIC here, in E minor like his 2e Symphonie (his most telling for me) he really expresses, and this must be mystic (and tonal) but I HEAR his 2nd Symphony when he plays here!
There's quite a bit from the old EMI set that's worth uploading here. But I've studiously avoided uploading the Widor Toccata, because, as great a piece of music as it is, I think it's almost gotten to be a musical cliché -- if any pipe organ music is played enough to merit that designation ;-)
honestly I love it
"ponderous" yes, maybe because the sound had to echo in those huge French cathedral halls. Maybe the slower style was necessary so all the lines of counterpoint could be clearly heard there.
I didn't take the 1925/29 as snotty, & I'm glad to hear you like the Filsell. I think the EMI "Composers in Person" thing may just be a re-packaging of the old LP I got the Vierne from, entitled "French Organs & Organists of the 1930's". It was EMI/RCA who did the original recordings, & they can keep re-issuing it every generation or so ;-)
Solstice Records issued a lot of recordings of Pierre Cochereau's work over the years -- particularly his improvisations, which proved the man was a genius. The earlier recordings were too closely mic'ed, & didn't give you a sense of the room's vastness. I think, though, that, over the years, the Solstice folks realized the organ sounded a lot better when you could hear some of the reverberation. The recordings from the late 70's-early 80's have a lot more ambience.
Always very moving to hear Louis Vierne on the real Cavaillé Coll known Pierre Cochereau
Love it!!!! ❤
I hope the organ survived the fire, at least to the point it can be restored.
Fingers crossed -- but I'm not optimistic
@@a55b47 Hello ! As far as I know, the was not "damaged". Only a lot of hash in the thousands of pipes makes it unplayable for now but neither the fire nor the firemen's water reached it. And although the heat was very high (I heard 800°C !) where the roof was burning nothing melt in the organ itself. Best regards. :)
Awesome!
Ponderous & lethargic de ma fesse!
Different era; different performance philosophy.
I often played the organ of Lahm/Itzgrund near Coburg Germany. An instrument from 1732: 29 stops/2 manuals. The pedal has a Posaunbaß 32' + 16' + 8' + Quinte 10 2/3. A member of the Bach family, Joh. Lorenz B., was there Kantor 50 years. And his relative Joh. Seb. could be involved in planning. It has a sort of "Gravitaet". Built by Herbst/Halberstadt. Never modernized. Organ friends can visit and play announcing their visit before. An important witness of the organ building at Bach's time.
Some "Baroquists" (of a now passed time, thank God) would of maybe had a tragic heart attack hearing a (such a) Contrebombarde 32' and 16',8',4' reeds in the Prelude; yet the reaching balance may come by hearing those wonderful 8'and 4' foot Romantic foundations in the fugue.
I love it!
L like "stately." ;-) In fact, I'm kind of partial to Vierne's reading.
It fascinates me how Bach was played that time. I don't really love it, bit it's awesome on it's own way.
Especially the Contre-Bombarde had a stunning sound when it was still a Cavaillé-Coll.
yes i do thank you very much :D
hi dad
how are you
i love how your videos have more views then mine :)
@peteacher52 I've got quite a few old LP's like that ;-)
You're absolutely right, just a small correction: Weingarten has 2 32'!
And Walter Kraft played the BWV 546 with both in a very beautiful performance.
@Arky83mi Bach would have used the shit out the big bombardes AND chamades if he had them. You best believe that :)
BWV 533
Go get 'em, Contrebombarde !! (an appropriate name for this rendition, n'est-ce pas?) Does your instrument have the 32-footer that Vierne uses? ;-)
Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, S.533
Glory be to Louis Vierne in the highest...
@advisorC101 The organ was in abominable shape when this was recorded. It has a powerful sound, sure, but you can hear that much of the organ is out of tune, and indeed, much of it was unplayable at this point in time. The unpleasant parts of the sound aren't just the primitive recording technology.
Yes, at the time, Vierne was trying to raise money to repair it.
No 32 reed though!
Look at the video.
If you want historical accuracy, the ND organ in Cochereau's mid-70's recording is drastically different from the one Vierne played, thanks to the Boisseau renovation/expansion/reconfiguration of the late 60's. St. Ouen, on the other hand, (my favorite instrument bar none), is pure C-C, & produces more 'Vierne-ian' sound. Plus Filsell is a superb, incisive, & inventive performer of the French repertoire. No contest, in my book -- & I say that as a lifelong devoté of M. Cochereau.
* * * * * I wish creative successes and victories. Musician, composer of the Bach family. Sincerely: Bach.S.R ***** Svyatoslav Bach: 5-ый музыкант, композитор из музыкальный семьи Бахов: 18 ноября 2014 год (Germany - Russia) Московское время: 21 час 05 мин. ***** НОВЫЙ: 4-ый КЛАССИЧЕСКИЙ ОРГАННЫЙ СИНГЛ в КОРОТКОМ ВАРИАНТЕ. МУЗЫКА: "S.R.Bach: Баховские сезоны - Ручьи музы, семьи Бахов" (Музыка * Music: Святослав Бах - Svyatoslav Bach. 18.11.2014)
Gruesome! Boris Karloff stuff!
Prelude & Fugue in E minor
Prelude and fugue in E minor by Bach
Hmm its a bit plod plod alright!
hideously out of tune! its grotesque!