@Richard Harrold I think big french organs are probably the best for Dupré’s music. My favourite symphony passion is either the Cochereau recording from 1955 or Dupré himself at St Sulpice
@Richard Harrold Dupré's organ ideologies were very much influenced by a natural progression from those of Cavaillé-Coll, as opposed to the then-fashionable neoclassical organs being glued together by Gonzalez et al, with their screechy flue choruses and German pipe scaling contributing to great incoherence. Dupré did indeed support the use electric action, but despite the action at St Sulpice being heavy, fast works such as his Deuxième Symphonie have been done well, such as in Jean-Baptiste Monnot's concert there last year. St Sulpice is obviously a difficult instrument to play, so those capable of rising to the challenge would have to know its nuances- and surely the greater difficulty would be registering such a beast with only Cavaillé-Coll's fully mechanical combination system! French romantic organs are indeed capable of being very bright, but as Daniel Roth said in his essay, CC did not "overinflate" his specifications with more 8' stops than was necessary, as was occasionally done in the UK and USA. As a Brit, I do take a huge amount of pride in our organs, especially those two you mentioned. I actually love John Challenger's recording of the first movement of the Symphonie-Passion at Salisbury, as this is an extremely well built instrument also capable of brightness. Despite it being impossible to qualitatively compare Salisbury to a Cavaillé-Coll, I would say they are similar in beauty. However, in my opinion, despite CC organs being built earlier than Dupré's compositions, I find them closer to the ultimate sound for his works, if there is one. The Evocation particularly was written as a tribute to his father, who was the organist at St Ouen, so he would have possibly had the sonorities of this instrument in mind. I find that a good balance between pretty much the best possible French romantic sound and the snappy electric action Dupré desired is Notre-Dame: an organ which never ceases to amaze me with Dupré's music, as he knew it extremely well.
@Richard Harrold I do like the organ at Verdun a lot, and it is similar to the slightly more controversial organ at Rouen cathedral. For most pieces, adaptations can be made for the very top notes, and are often done at Notre-Dame, and this isn't detrimental to the overall quality of the recording. I do not agree with many of the tonal changes undertaken in the 1960s, however thankfully they have been mostly reversed, other than the iconic chamades and the more recent conversion of the Petite Pédale to a Résonnance. division. I'm not sure about what happened in the 2019 restoration other than the replacement of the Pedal Octave Viola 4 by an independent Fifteenth, as it is not an organ I have heard in person, but I do think that is a bit extreme, as the more recent recordings still sound magnificent. I'm not familiar with the situation at Truro either, but it is also a stunning instrument likewise. I totally disagree regarding Andy Scott- he has done an amazing job on overseeing recent projects, such as the successful "new" organ at Canterbury cathedral, and the absolutely amazing reconstruction and reinstatement of the organ's true character at York Minster, which I had the privilege of playing a few months ago, and the voicing of it was incredible, with the organ sounding very homogeneous and powerful in the demanding acoustic of the Minster. Even the repitch at Peterborough cathedral, which even H&H provided a case against, was regarded as successful and done with the utmost care. The other major organ from his time at the firm I have played, at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, was very refined and versatile, with the divisions blending well and not running out of colours.
@Richard Harrold I don’t know loads about English organs because I play french ones but I see you talking about all these famous English cathedrals and you did even mention Gloucester! I think it must be one of the best organs in England.
Amazing! I hear echoes of Jehan Alain and Jean Guillou all at the same time. I'm not usually a Dupré fan but wow, wondrous performance!
Thank you Julian
What a treat!
Wowee zowee
All demons and evil cast out?
Oui!
best version?
I think so. But some other great ones are cochereau and castagnet
@Richard Harrold I think big french organs are probably the best for Dupré’s music. My favourite symphony passion is either the Cochereau recording from 1955 or Dupré himself at St Sulpice
@Richard Harrold Dupré's organ ideologies were very much influenced by a natural progression from those of Cavaillé-Coll, as opposed to the then-fashionable neoclassical organs being glued together by Gonzalez et al, with their screechy flue choruses and German pipe scaling contributing to great incoherence. Dupré did indeed support the use electric action, but despite the action at St Sulpice being heavy, fast works such as his Deuxième Symphonie have been done well, such as in Jean-Baptiste Monnot's concert there last year. St Sulpice is obviously a difficult instrument to play, so those capable of rising to the challenge would have to know its nuances- and surely the greater difficulty would be registering such a beast with only Cavaillé-Coll's fully mechanical combination system! French romantic organs are indeed capable of being very bright, but as Daniel Roth said in his essay, CC did not "overinflate" his specifications with more 8' stops than was necessary, as was occasionally done in the UK and USA. As a Brit, I do take a huge amount of pride in our organs, especially those two you mentioned. I actually love John Challenger's recording of the first movement of the Symphonie-Passion at Salisbury, as this is an extremely well built instrument also capable of brightness. Despite it being impossible to qualitatively compare Salisbury to a Cavaillé-Coll, I would say they are similar in beauty. However, in my opinion, despite CC organs being built earlier than Dupré's compositions, I find them closer to the ultimate sound for his works, if there is one. The Evocation particularly was written as a tribute to his father, who was the organist at St Ouen, so he would have possibly had the sonorities of this instrument in mind. I find that a good balance between pretty much the best possible French romantic sound and the snappy electric action Dupré desired is Notre-Dame: an organ which never ceases to amaze me with Dupré's music, as he knew it extremely well.
@Richard Harrold I do like the organ at Verdun a lot, and it is similar to the slightly more controversial organ at Rouen cathedral. For most pieces, adaptations can be made for the very top notes, and are often done at Notre-Dame, and this isn't detrimental to the overall quality of the recording. I do not agree with many of the tonal changes undertaken in the 1960s, however thankfully they have been mostly reversed, other than the iconic chamades and the more recent conversion of the Petite Pédale to a Résonnance. division. I'm not sure about what happened in the 2019 restoration other than the replacement of the Pedal Octave Viola 4 by an independent Fifteenth, as it is not an organ I have heard in person, but I do think that is a bit extreme, as the more recent recordings still sound magnificent. I'm not familiar with the situation at Truro either, but it is also a stunning instrument likewise. I totally disagree regarding Andy Scott- he has done an amazing job on overseeing recent projects, such as the successful "new" organ at Canterbury cathedral, and the absolutely amazing reconstruction and reinstatement of the organ's true character at York Minster, which I had the privilege of playing a few months ago, and the voicing of it was incredible, with the organ sounding very homogeneous and powerful in the demanding acoustic of the Minster. Even the repitch at Peterborough cathedral, which even H&H provided a case against, was regarded as successful and done with the utmost care. The other major organ from his time at the firm I have played, at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, was very refined and versatile, with the divisions blending well and not running out of colours.
@Richard Harrold I don’t know loads about English organs because I play french ones but I see you talking about all these famous English cathedrals and you did even mention Gloucester! I think it must be one of the best organs in England.