Classical Music

En français

My second Once Upon the Internet post in our Lenten organ series presents the complete sets of Preludes and Fugues for organ of French composer and organ virtuoso, Camille Saint-Saëns.

For all his notoriety as a dominant figure in French music, we seem to forget that Saint-Saëns played the organ at various churches in Paris and in the surrounding area. In 1857, he replaced Louis Lefébure-Wely at the eminent position of organist at the Église de la Madeleine,

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En français

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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En français

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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En français

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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