NOSPR Chamber Musicians / Bialic / À la parisienne - NOSPR

Many of Paris’ churches are temples not only to religion, but to art as well. For decades, virtuoso composers climbed to the organ lofts of these churches and, riding the wave of a revolution in organ building, revolutionised music as well: they transformed its language and style and boldly explored the instruments’ new technical and timbral possibilities. The names of these reformers – Vierne and Dupré (who spent 37 years at Notre-Dame and Saint-Sulpice respectively), Widor and Gigout (more than 60 years each at Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Augustin) – are familiar to us from solo recitals. They appear far less often in chamber concerts, although all of them readily cultivated chamber music, often interwoven with the organ.

Widor’s salon-style Serenade thus gives us a taste of his sense of humour. Gigout’s work brings a dialogue between organ and ensemble on a solemn theme, while Vierne’s Triumphal March, written to mark the centenary of Napoleon’s death, speaks with a single monumental voice. Dupré’s Sonata draws us in with its multilayered narrative, while his solemn Poème héroïque, dedicated to those who fell in the Great War, offers a radiant tale of heroism. Gounod's Barcarolle reveals his music at its most lyrical and, in this arrangement, also reminds us that this master of opera once experienced life at the organ console himself – at the Missions étrangères church in Paris.

Piotr Mika („Ruch Muzyczny”)

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