1926, 1930, 1932, 1942, 1953, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1971, 2003, Music

Complete Organ Works (2003) by Maurice Durufle, performed by Friedhelm Flamme

The pipe organ must be one of the seriously neglected instruments of 20th century “classical” music, at least from the perspective of us musical naifs. I mean, even though there are plenty of notable organ and organ-centric compositions, very few of those have actually made it into mass awareness. The little bit of organ music we know is baroque.

This is a welcome corrective. And, unlike so much famous organ music, here the critics can’t complain that the “organ isn’t old enough!” or anything like that, as 20th century organ music is performed on a 20th century organ.

The music itself is pretty much what I would expect from 20th century organ music that isn’t advertised as avant garde (whatever that means…). It’s the kind of thing I will have to listen to a lot more before I move from my standard “this is pretty incredible” judgment in lack of a thoughtful opinion.

9/10

Suite op. 5 (1932):

  • Prélude
  • Sicilienne
  • Toccata

The prelude builds really slowly at first and just builds and builds until it is kind of like a crescendo of sound before dropping out almost entirely. The second half of the movement is much more sedate.

The ‘Sicilienne’ is another sedate experience, exploring areas of sound with the organ that I feel like I haven’t quite heard (or noticed) in pre-20th century organ music.

As you might expect, the toccata is starkly different from the previous two movements, beginning with some pretty crazy playing and using the entire instrument. Both the second movement and this one have hints of proto-minimalism in some of the swirls of sound that come out of the instrument.

Chant Donné: Hommage à Jean Gallon (1953)

This is an extraordinarily brief piece not worthy of much comment. What do you say about something that lasts 75 seconds? It’s nice.

Méditation op. posth. (1964)

Another brief piece, one which we can assume was not intended for publication, since it was published after Durufle’s death. This is one of those brief musical paintings meant to conjure something. I’m not sure what, but it’s nice enough to listen to. I wouldn’t meditate to it, but I’m not sure that’s the idea.

Prélude sur l’introït de l’epiphanie op. 13 (1961)

This is a pretty classic-sounding prelude despite the modernness of it. Very brief, but I like it.

Scherzo op. 2 (1926)

Durufle’s first published piece for organ is a dynamic thing full of contemporary ideas packed into not a whole lot of space. My knowledge of forms isn’t what it should be, so I don’t know how it holds up as a scherzo, but I like this thing and it has echoes (to me) or more recent film music.

Fugue sur le thème du About this sound Carillon des Heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons op. 12 (1962)

A brief but very cathedral-sounding piece that does indeed conjure up images of someone playing in a beautiful church (though I’ve never seen this particular cathedral). Durufle just fills the room with sound; very impressive.

Prélude, adagio et choral varié sur le theme du ‘Veni Creator’ op. 4 (1926/1930)

The prelude goes for it right off the bat, throwing aggressive ideas at your right away, instead of lulling you in like some of his other preludes. To the best of my knowledge this is an aggressively modernist prelude for organ, utilizing the full range of the instrument and showing off the abilities of the performer.

The adagio, though more sedate as you would imagine, still allows for some showy playing by the organist. Like a lot of Durufle’s slower pieces, there are moments when the sound seems to almost disappear. The conclusion to the adagio is one of the prettiest things of his I’ve yet to hear.

The ‘choral varié’ (choral variations?) almost feels like more of a prelude to my untrained ears. It’s more somber than the prelude in this piece but still provides plenty of opportunity for the sort of cyclical pattern that Durufle likes so much.

Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain op. 7 (1942)

The prelude is all a-swirl, like much of Durufle’s up-tempo work. but this one feels particularly daunting and, like some of his other pieces, feels like it presages minimalism at least a little bit. Not knowing any better, this has to be one of the most demanding pieces of organ I’ve ever heard. It’s kind of bonkers.

The fugue I guess I would have expected to have the same kind of heady, break-neck feel of the prelude but it is more in the tradition of a baroque fugue (far as I can tell) and practically feels like Bach compared to Durufle’s other work (especially the prelude of this piece). It’s definitely not as conventional as that description suggests but it just has more of an older feel to it than the other music of his I’ve heard. It’s downright magisterial in the middle, and then it goes pretty bonkers and renders comparisons to Bach irrelevant.

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