The Cathédrale
Sainte Marie d’Auch possesses the only
surviving baroque great organ built
by Jean de Joyeuse between 1688 and
1694. The instrument underwent a number
of restorations, first in about1820
(by Jeandel), in 1870, in 1954-1958
(by Victor Gonzalez under the guidance
of Norbert Dufourcq) and finally in
1992-1998. The instrument was then restored
as faithfully as possible to Jean de
Joyeuse’s specifications. Jean-Christophe
Revel, presently the permanent organist
at Auch Cathedral, has devised this
programme, that confronts works from
the Classical period (Claudio Merulo,
Louis Couperin and Nicolas de Grigny)
particularly well suited to this instrument
and recent pieces by present-day French
composers. Most contemporary pieces
heard here were written for Revel and
this very instrument.
Campo’s Capriccio
and Sonnerie, completed
in 2003 and 2002 respectively, are short
sequels to some of his more ambitious
organ works, such as Livre de
sonates (1997-1999) and his
First Symphony for organ and orchestra
first performed by the Berkeley Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano.
These lovely miniatures brilliantly
achieve what their titles suggest with
a most refreshing lightness of touch.
Works such as these should be in every
organist’s repertoire.
I have already enthusiastically
reviewed two other discs of Edith Canat
de Chizy’s music [June
2002] [April
2003], so that I now welcome
the opportunity to hear more of it.
Véga was composed
with the Jean de Joyeuse organ in mind,
although the composer also gives alternative
registrations for a more classical organ,
so that the version heard here is just
one of several possible versions of
the piece. I hasten to say that it works
marvellously well, but I would like
to hear it once on a more traditional
instrument. This piece, completed in
1999, was inspired by a poem by Jaccotet
dedicated to Henry Purcell. The title
Véga alludes to
the star of that name, and the music
appropriately suggests some mysterious,
other-worldly spheres.
We are given only four
(viz. the first four actually) of Pauset’s
Six Pièces pour orgue
(we are not told when these were composed).
The composer mentions that he was particularly
interested by "mixtures" while
writing these pieces that are all fairly
short, but very contrasted, exploiting
the whole expressive range of the instrument
and often full of arresting or at times
intriguing sonorities. However, there
is nothing experimental at all about
this subtly expressive music that often
brings Messiaen to mind. A pity, though,
that the whole set was not recorded.
Gérard Pesson’s
Etudes pour orgue baroque
were written for the inauguration of
the organ in Auch after its last restoration.
Incidentally, the third étude
Tombeau de Luigi Nono (the longest
one) is not included here, so that we
are left with La discrète,
in which "the organ becomes a gently
sighing giant, as if sleeping peacefully"
(Pesson’s words), and the brief, rather
enigmatic Fanfare, both exploiting
some unexpected possibilities of this
instrument, such as half-drawn stops,
resulting in some beguiling sounds.
On the whole, the music here may at
first sound more experimental than it
actually is.
The last contemporary
work is Aussi... by Bruno
Mantovani. (The title is a pun on the
name of the city of Auch, which in German
means "aussi" ["also"].)
Mantovani’s music, too, is refreshingly
free of any musical dogmatism. In an
earlier
review of some of his works, I mentioned
Turnage as a point of comparison, for
both composers are neither afraid nor
ashamed of letting some popular elements,
such as jazz, slip into their music.
Aussi... is an attractive,
fanciful and joyfully inhibited piece
of music and a splendid conclusion to
this interesting and fascinating release,
superbly played by Revel and well recorded.
The production is up to Aeon’s best
standards again. Well worth investigating,
definitely not for organ buffs only.
Hubert Culot
Jean-Christophe Revel at the Jean de Joyeuse
organ of the Cathédrale Sainte Marie
d’Auch 
