Earlier this year I wandered into St
Louis en L'isle in Paris in order to
gaze at Bernard Aubertin's extraordinary
new (2005) organ. The sight is truly
a feast for the eye, Aubertin's case,
a very very clever mix of Northern and
Southern stylistic elements, fits aesthetically
so well into the church, completed in
1726, that it is hard to believe that
it is a new addition to the building's
interior. The organ consists of 51 stops
on 3 manuals; a Positif de Dos, a so-called
Positif interieur above the console,
with the Grand Orgue at the top of the
case. The Pedale is housed in 16' towers.
Now we have a chance
to listen to it, and it doesn't disappoint.
Aubertin is an Alsatian organ builder
and his organs have always mixed French
and German elements. In his Paris organ,
probably his most prestigious contract
to date, he set out to build an organ
with the music of J.S. Bach and the
organs of Zacharias Hildebrandt as its
chief influences. In addition some Northern
stops, as described by Praetorius in
the Syntagma Musicum are included. One's
first reaction to the sound of the organ
has to be an immediate realisation that
this is an extraordinarily mature piece
of organ building, more so than Aubertin's
remarkable earlier instruments in Vichy
and Vertus for example. The spirit of
Hildebrandt's magnum opus in Naumburg
hangs over the organ but one never gets
the impression that this is simply a
slavish copy of that wondrous instrument.
The Naumburg organ was itself re-born
just five years ago and caused a sensation
- surely the ultimate Bach-organ in
the world, (and Bach himself was of
course involved in the design). When
a highly significant organ restoration
has a profound effect on new organ-building,
this must be rejoiced. In Paris, the
simply monumental plenum underpinned
by the 32' Dulciane is utterly sensational.
But also the individual registers; the
singing Principals, the extraordinary
variety of the flutes, including the
Allemande with its pronounced transient,
rather like Schnitger's Querfloit, the
variety in the reeds, the Naumburg Unda
Maris ... That such sounds come from
a new organ in Europe must surely turn
heads. That such sounds come from a
new organ on the Ile St-Louis in Paris
is revolutionary. I believe this organ
will become an icon of its time.
The third part of the
Clavier Ubung is a highly appropriate
way to introduce this organ to its public.
The playing of Francis Jacob, a former
student of Jan Willem Jansen and Jean
Boyer will raise some eyebrows however.
I have a recording of Francis Jacob
playing Bach in 2000 on the Ahrend organ
in Toulouse. His playing is brisk and
very French. But in the five intervening
years his playing has turned on its
head. He now favours extraordinarily
slow tempi, rather like Wolfgang Rubsam's
Bach recordings for Naxos. The Praeludium,
at over 12 minutes, must be one of the
slowest ever recorded, and, like the
Fugue, and the large Aus tiefer Noth
feature the 32' reed from beginning
to end. How astonishing that a young
French organist should play in such
a monumental way, even taking a 16'
in the Left Hand of the larger 'Christ
unser Herr zum Jordan Kam'. Very Dutch!
Some of the tempi, in the larger 'Vater
Unser' for example, I grew to like in
a hypnotic sort of way. Elsewhere I
find the lack of movement disturbing.
Some other eccentricities; the exaggerated
staccato in the manualiter 'Allein Gott',
and the registration changes during
the Duetti for example, I cared for
less.
The presentation is
beautiful, and in general this is an
extraordinary release. The playing is
too mannered to make it recommendable
as your only Clavier Ubung III, although
much is admirable. But it is the magnificent
new Parisian sound of Aubertin's masterpiece
that make this so unmissable.
Chris Bragg