I
confess, like many organists I think,
to being an arch-sceptic when it comes
to the late organ works of Jean Langlais.
The problem, as I see it, is simply
that Langlais wrote so much music,
(Marie-Louise Langlais comments in
her notes than Langlais wrote no fewer
than 1668 pages of organ music and
that that only constitutes 40% of
his total output!), that I can't bring
myself to believe that more than a
few pieces could be worth playing.
So I was curious whether I would find
a programme of Langlais pieces from
the 1970s dull, or whether I would
find them - to quote once again Marie-Louise
Langlais- "creative, innovative
and misunderstood".
The
first thing to say about this new
recording from Festivo is that it
is superbly played. Marie-Louise Langlais,
the Moroccan-born widow and former
student of Jean Langlais is a really
first rate advocate of his music.
She is joined by her former student
Sylvie Mallet in the pieces for two
organs, and for two players at one
organ. The programme is built around
the challenging 3rd of the 'Cinq Méditations
sur l'Apocalypse', 'La Cinquième
Trompette'. This is Langlais at
his most atonal, in a dramatic commentary
on the text of Revelation 9. Not for
nothing did Olivier Messiaen consider
this to be Langlais's finest work,
and although I miss, as with all of
Langlais's later music, an identifiable
harmonic language such as that of
Messiaen, the work does pay repeated
listening. Other works in this collection
are less challenging for the listener,
for example the 3rd Esquisse Gothique,
built in the form of an Estampie.
Elsewhere Gregorian chant, unsurprisingly
is the key influence.
The
organs chosen here are the instruments
in the Hofkirche in Luzern. The larger
organ, (5/84), is essentially a 1970s
organ of Kuhn, but including 17th
century pipes from Geissler, and 32
complete stops of Hass, (whom Cavaillé-Coll
is known to have admired), from 1859-62.
The whole is housed in a curious 17th
century case, the 32' Principal of
the Pedal dwarfing the 4' Ruckpositive.
Madame Langlais explains in admirable
detail the choice of organs; her argument
is persuasive, and I find the instruments
well suited to the music. There is
a little of the mid-European neutrality
common among factory builders throughout
the continent today, but the organ
has enough character, sheer power
and quality solo stops to raise it
above the average. It has been well
captured here.
The
qualities of much of Langlais's late
music remain elusive for me I must
admit, but there is much to admire
in this release, not least the excellent
playing and the programme notes which
are full of fascinating insight.
Chris
Bragg
Marie-Louise Langlais and Sylvie Mallet, organ
