L’Orgue Chambriste
Gabriel FAURE (1845-1924)
Andante for cello and organ (1894) [4:50]
Charles-Marie WIDOR (1844-1937)
Andante sostenuto from Symphony 9. Op.70 (1895/2019) [5:33]
Marcel DUPRE (1886-1971)
Sonata for cello and organ in A minor, Op.60 (1964) [15:12]
Daniel ROTH (b.1942)
Aïn Karim for flute and organ (1998) [11:49]
Rolande FALCINELLI (1920-2006)
Kénose for cello and organ (1984) [9:09]
Jean GUILLOU (1930-2019)
Intermezzo, Op.17. for flute and organ (1969) [13:36]
Jean-Baptiste ROBIN (b.1976)
Les Rouages du temps (2019) [5:04]
Quentin Guérillot (organ)
Khrystyna Sarksyan (flute)
Thibaut Reznicek (cello)
rec. 2019 Royaumont Abbey and St Etienne-du-Mont, Paris
INITIALE INL07 [65:17]
Despite the protestations in the booklet that chamber music for organ seems an improbable thing, the fact is that there is not only quite a lot of it about, but much of it has been recorded; the Sonata for cello and organ by Marcel Dupré, for example, can currently be found on three other CDs, and there is plenty of repertory from such composers as Saint-Saëns and Dubois. But full praise to this team for digging into the depths of the library at the Paris Conservatoire for other overlooked works, as well as for finding new ones and, in the case of Robin’s Les Rouages du temps, commissioning something new.
Full praise, too, for such a lovely and atmospheric recording, as well as for such deeply touching and affecting performances. In the case of the works by Fauré and Widor, we have moments of unutterable beauty; the like of which is rare indeed on recordings. These are simply adorable performances of truly lovely music. The Fauré seems to be a forerunner of the Romance for cello and piano, but it is not just entirely idiomatic, but stands, according to Quentin Guérillot’s booklet notes, as Fauré’s only work (if you discount the Requiem) with a key part for the organ (although it does appear it was conceived for harmonium rather than grand organ). On the other hand, the Widor is a transcription (by Guérillot) for flute, organ, and cello of the second movement of the Symphonie Gothique for solo organ. For my money, given this beautifully delivered performance, I rather think this works rather more effectively than Widor’s original, and I particularly like the moment (around 3:55) where the organ steps aside to allow flute and cello to carry on above a simple pedal note. This is pure musical magic.
Recorded on the gorgeous Cavaillé-Coll organ of Royaumont Abbey, the Dupré Sonata has great spirit and vitality. In many ways it is one of the most distinguished works on the disc, reminding us that Dupré’s output included several chamber works involving the organ and by the time he wrote this Sonata he was well acquainted with the practicalities of balance between organ and string instruments. Thibaut Reznicek is an impassioned and highly sensitive interpreter of this super piece, and Guérillot is the ideal partner, using the organ to very good effect and never failing to show great awareness of the music’s architecture. A word, too, about the recording, which sets it all in a beautifully warm and resonant setting, which sounds entirely real.
The other four works are less well known, and both the Falcinelli and Robin works are appearing on disc for the first time. Organists will need no introduction to Daniel Roth, organist at Saint-Sulpice since 1985 and one of France’s most famous recitalists. His output as a composer beyond pieces for organ solo is surprisingly substantial, and this fantasia, named after the village of Aïn Karim reputedly the birthplace of John the Baptist, is one of two chamber works he has written involving the instrument. As one might expect, there is a powerful and explosive organ introduction, and the instrument appears in big, dramatic passages interspersed with evocative flute solos, ethereally played by Khrystyna Sarksyan, which convey something of the ancient mystery which surrounds the place. Another figure very well known to organists was Jean Guillou, an extraordinary virtuoso, whose own compositions, numbering around 100, include 18 for organ and other instruments, including the Intermezzo for flute and organ recorded here on the organ of St Etienne du Mont. The language is strange and mystical, the organ used more as a source of weird and wonderful sound effects which contrast the flute’s small flurries of melody and frequent moments of flutter-tonguing and note-bending. Again, Guérillot handles the registration and technical demands of the piece brilliantly, while Sarksyan rides over all the strange goings on from the organ with glorious insouciance.
Rolande Falcinelli was a pupil of Dupré and a prolific composer whose six works for organ with other instruments include Kénose for cello and organ. The title implies emptying the soul of everything and succumbing totally to Divine Will, and the music, as Falcinelli herself suggests, is a reflection on the “heart-rending human experience” of Christ’s crucifixion. From the very outset, above rumbling pedal clusters (which feel, rather than sound, daunting on the St Etienne organ), Reznicek conveys that sense of total desolation. It is, perhaps, more a solo cello work with, as in the Guillou, the organ more confined to the creating of background effects – and sounding remarkably orchestral in the process – and in these two players it finds extremely compelling champions.
Guérillot writes that, “following a long search, we arrived at the conclusion that no original work for flute, cello and organ had ever been written”. So, they commissioned one from Jean-Baptiste Robin. It is perhaps the most openly virtuosic piece on the disc, with all three players stretched both technically and musically. I find it a highly effective piece, and one which fully deserves to find a place in the repertory. The title translates as “Wheels of Time”, and that sense of continual motion, of an unrelenting forward momentum, is superbly conveyed. On a more prosaic note, the slapping of the flute and the use of cello pizzicato is said to “evoke the mechanism of a clock”.
Marc Rochester
