Marcel DUPRÉ (1886-1971)
Organ Music - Volume 1
Suite in F minor op.39 (1944) [13:38]
4 Versets de l’hymne “Ave Maris Stella” From 15 Versets sur les Vêpres du commun des fêtes de la Sainte Vierge op.18 (1919) I. When the salutation Gabriel had spoken [1:08]; II. Jesus’ tender Mother, make thy supplication [2:19]; III. So now as we journey, aid our weak endeavour [2:35]; IV. Amen (Finale) [2:09]
From “7 Pièces” op.27. IV. Carillon (1931) [5:20]
Variations sur un vieux Noël, op.20 (1922) [12:51]
Évocation op.37 Poème symphonique (1941) [24:35]
Alessandro Perin (organ)
rec. 18-19 June 2020, The organ of the Duomo of San Lorenzo, Abano Terme, Padua, Italy
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 95644 [64:44]
Optimistically, this is the first instalment in another wide-ranging survey of Marcel Dupré’s organ music and if that is so, it should run to about a dozen volumes. There are at least three other competitors in the market: various soloists on Naxos, Jeremy Filsell on Guild, and Ben van Oosten on MD&G but I have not heard all these alternatives.
There are plenty of biographical sources for Marcel Dupré, both in print and online. Three things need to be borne in mind when listening to his music: first, he is in the trajectory of the great virtuosic French organists. His teachers included Alexandre Guilmant, Charles Marie Widor and Louis Vierne. Dupré’s own pupils included Jehan Alain and Marie-Claire Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Jeanne Demessieux, Jean Guillou, Jean Langlais, and Olivier Messiaen. Secondly, his musical career encompassed teaching, performance and composition. In 1934, Dupré succeeded Widor as Organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, a post he retained until his death. From 1926 to 1954, he was Organ Professor at the Paris Conservatoire, and then its Director between 1954 and 1956. Dupré gave recitals around the world including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. Thirdly, his musical style displays highly technical virtuosity, a strong sense of controlled improvisation, and his music is often suffused with a deeply poetic and spiritual element.
This CD gets off to a great start with the Suite in F minor, op.39, completed in 1944. The four movements were collated from twelve studies that Dupré had devised for his pupil, Jeanne Demessieux, which have been likened in technique and content to Franz Liszt’s Transcendental Studies. The Suite opens with an Allegro agitato. Musical notes are everywhere, creating a “rapid shimmer of sound”. The CD insert proposes that it develops “an intertwining of technical formulas, virtuosic and spectacular, evolving in a harmonic spectrum that is deliberately dizzying.” The Cantabile is written in six-part counterpoint, with two parts each for left hand and right hand, and two for the feet. The overall impression is of unsettling and shifting chromaticism. It is played quietly from start to finish. The Scherzando is complex, with lots of parallel sixths and thirds creating a will o’ the wisp sound. It is playful and light-hearted, with almost a touch of Mendelssohn’s Midsummers Night’s Dream about it. Some critics have described the Finale as being “heroic”. I tend to agree with Graham Steed that there is “much nonchalance, wit, ebullience, and humour that one cannot be too serious about it.” Whatever the contentions, it is a powerful and technically challenging conclusion to this Suite.
The 4 Versets de l’hymne “Ave Maris Stella” are taken from the Fifteen Versets dating from 1919. The background to this work was a series of improvisations made at Notre-Dame de Paris, during the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August of that year. Claude Johnson, the managing director of Rolls Royce, was in the congregation and encouraged Dupré to complete a work reflecting these improvisations. This was duly published in 1920, at Johnson’s expense and the entire set was premiered by the composer at the Albert Hall, London, on 9 December 1920. The four versets on this CD are at the heart of the work. They form a thoughtful commentary on each verse of the liturgical hymn Ave Maria Stella and range from the meditative to the vivacious.
Carillon was composed in 1931. It is the fourth number of Dupré ’s Seven Pièces, op.27. This was written for Frederick Mayor, then Director of Music at the Cadet Chapel at West Point Military Institute in New York State. The liner notes rightly describe it as a “perpetuum mobile” based on oscillating chords of the fourth and fifth which gives a sound like “scintillating bells”. The actual theme reflects the carillon at the Église de l'Immaculée-Conception in Elbeuf, near Rouen. This piece would make an ideal alternative to Widor’s overworked Toccata at any wedding; mind you, the organist would need to be a genius to play it. It is one of the most impressive pieces on this disc.
The Variations sur un vieux Noël, op.20 is probably Marcel Dupré’s best known work. Anecdotally, the story is that these Variations were composed during a train journey in the United States, in 1922. There are currently 23 recordings listed on the Arkiv Website. The piece is based on the old French carol Noël nouvelet with the tune stated in the Dorian mode (white notes on D). It is followed by nine variations, and a brilliant concluding finale, which combines toccata and fugue. The Variations themselves are of three types: melodically unaltered with the interest in the accompaniment, those where the tune becomes well and truly hidden in the texture, and finally, where the melody is heard in canon (chasing each other around). This work is played here with contrasting registrations which are satisfactorily tailored to each variation.
Evocation, op.37 (1941) is subtitled a "symphonic poem for organ". It was written in memory of Dupré’s father, Albert, onetime organist at Saint-Ouen Abbey, Rouen. The work is really an organ symphony in three movements. Dupré does not use classical sonata form in the opening Moderato, but a kind of rondo, with episodes or scenes and returning themes. Here and there, echoes of Messiaen’s birdsong appear as decoration or commentary. The slow Adagio presents tender music, but also has a few agonising moments: it “is part requiem, part prayer for peace”. It may well be a tribute to the composer’s mother. The Finale is often heard as a stand-alone piece. It is a massive toccata, that inhabits a nightmarish world, rather than reveries about the past. It is conceived as a Rondo with hugely contrasting episodes. This is a bravura piece to bring the house down with “huge, hammered” chords and a whole battery of intricate technical devices. The final bars certainly suggest the triumph of good over evil: the nightmare is gone. Evocation is given a stunning performance here by Alessandro Perin, bringing this CD to a spectacular conclusion.
The music is played on the organ at the Duomo di San Lorenzo, Abano Terme, Padua. It was built by the Tamburini family in 1968/75 and restored by Diego Bonata in 1999. It is an impressive instrument by any account, and seems to me to be ideally suited to Dupré’s music. Alessandro Perin has given a splendid recital of all these works; he clearly understands and relates to the composer’s kaleidoscopic and highly virtuosic music.
The liner notes by Vincent Crosnier (translated by Jan Tazelaar) are excellent. It would be good if it could be decided which language is used for Dupré’s compositions: English, French, Latin or a mix of all three. Typically, I have followed the CD track listing here. I was surprised that the text is printed only in English, as I imagine that there will be a strong interest in this CD in France and other European countries. The essential specification of the organ is included, as well as a few photographs of composer, performer, pipe rack and console. The cover photo is dreary, and does not reflect the vibrant music featured on this disc.
As noted above, if this is a complete survey of Dupré’s organ music, I expect many more discs to follow, hopefully sooner, rather than later and I look forward to exploring this repertoire in more detail.
John France
