The title ‘French’ Organ Music is not strictly correct
as Naji Hakim was born in Lebanon, although France
has been his adopted country for many years. The programme opens with his three
movement Le Tombeau d’Olivier Messiaen and closes with Vexilla Regis Prodeunt.
In between are Messiaen’s Apparition de l’Eglise éternelle and Vierne’s six movement
Messe Basse pour les enfants défunts. Hakim is well known as an
organist-composer-improviser and succeeded Messiaen at La Trinité in 1993. Le
Tombeau d’Olivier Messiaen was premiered by Hakim at La Trinité in 1993 and is
a 20 minute work which incorporates melodic and harmonic ideas of Messiaen. The
first movement has a strong feel of Dieu parmi nous, has some unusual
registrations and is a real tour-de-force. It is well played with panache and
energy. The second movement also has exotic coloration and quotes from Les Offrandes
Oubliées. It is generally quieter and musically more calm, before making-way
for the shattering opening of the final movement, quoting from the Trois
Petites Liturgies and Harawi. Like the first movement and the Final from the
Hommage à Igor Stravinski, the dance flies along at a frightening pace with
huge vigour and a relentless quality. For me some of the music is like written
-down improvisation - perhaps that’s what it is. In any case, it is very well
presented by David Bednall. The eleven minute Vexilla Regis is through-composed
with several distinct sections which refer musically to the seven stanzas of
the text of this hymn to the Holy Cross for the vespers of Passion Sunday. A
wide variety of registrations provide some relief from the power of tutti, and
musically the piece has some strong moments.
Messiaen’s Apparition de l’Eglise éternelle sounds
very well on the Blackburn instrument, an organ having gained a few
new stops à la Notre-Dame thanks to the consultancy of David Briggs. Vierne’s
Messe Basse pour les enfants défunts was his last work, and much of the anguish
of his life is reflected in music which is frequently sombre and poignant.
David Bednall finds appropriately ‘French’ registrations on the Blackburn organ perhaps by lots of coupling-up. Only the voix humaine
is rather out of tune. Vierne’s musical language had become very chromatic by
this stage in his life. The Prélude has a mood like the Prélude of the First
Symphony: emotionally highly charged, not rising above mezzo forte, and ending
on the subdued voix humaine registration and a dark C sharp minor chord. The
Introit which follows is calm like the Berceuse from the Pièces en style libre,
with a gentle development of the opening motivic ideas. Sensitively played, it
is musically interesting and has a single affekt throughout. The Offertoire
is in ternary form and is another dark and sombre piece, with reeds mixed in
with the fonds. It is musically less developed and precedes the Elevation, a
short movement where the tension of the previous music is released into a much
needed stillness. The Communion is beautiful, a rich flute-dominated fonds and
a major key! A typical Vierne Adagio, it has good forward movement. The closing
Défilé has a wide range of ideas and moods, with another calm Berceuse as the
central section. The loud closing section using material from the beginning
finally gives way to a pianissimo conclusion on C sharp minor. A fine
recording.
Graham Mark Scott
David Bednall, organ
