Classical Music

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Related thread: RIP: Marie-Claire Alain

I had prepared a post for our Lenten organ series on the organ music of Cesar Franck, and had planned to use that today, However, the recent passing of French organist Marie-Claire Alain has prompted me to change my plan. I will use the Franck post at a later date, and will spend today showcasing the recorded legacy of Madame Alain, who died this past February 26 in a nursing home in a suburb of Paris.

[IMG]http://orgues.chartres.free.fr/images/MC-ALAIN.jpg

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There’s something iconic about seeing a full symphony orchestra on stage, with an organ in the background, like this picture of the Boston Symphony in front of the venerable organ at Symphony Hall.



I own an old vinyl recording of the BSO, daring the caretaker years of William Steinberg, performing ...

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The rules will be kept simple: here’s what I found, here’s where I found it, here’s a couple of sentences about it and (possibly) some opinions.

Not unlike Olympic Figure Skating, I will provide two sets of marks (letters A to D) on sound quality (SQ) and on overall impression (OI). These grades are entirely subjective, but here are some guidelines:

• About “sound quality”: my point of reference is my iPod (160 GB iPod Classic) with standard

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For our first post of our yearly Lenten Organ Festival, I am proposing some of Mendelssohn and Bach's organ music played on a "Churn Organ" by organist Henrik Behrens from Wuppertal, Germany.

I don't know much about the artist - in fact, I have tried in vain to contact him to find out more aboout him and the instrument he is recorded ...

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Tomorrow will be Ash Wednesday – the official start to the Lenten season – and as we did last year, we will try and program more organ music during that time, starting next week with Once Upon the Internet.

But, as is the custom around the Christian world at this time, we get one last “kick at the can” before giving up some of the things we like best…

They call it Mardi Gras, or as the folks in New Orleans call it, Fat Tuesday.
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