This is a peculiar
and unfortunately not wholly successful
release from Festivo. Its primary purpose
is to showcase the new (2004) Bernard
Dargassies organ in the Basilique Notre-Dame
du Perpetuel Secours in Paris. However,
the astonishing admission that the new
organ is "built from organ pieces that
belonged to dismantled organs or to
organs that had been changed in some
way" hardly fills one with confidence
and proves entirely reflected in its
tonal quality. This is strictly second-rate
organ building, featuring hardly a beautiful
solo colour anywhere, though plenty
of ugly ones, in its more than sixty
stops. The one exception is a marvellous
Flute Harmonique, which presumably came
from an organ of worthy vintage. At
the other end of the spectrum, the hideous
chamade-unit is a model of bad taste.
The clue to the organ's
design can be found in its titulaire,
Jean-Paul Imbert's, background. This
is a Guillou disciple, perhaps not quite
as radical as the man himself, but with
bizarre mutations and pizzicato couplers,
the enfant-terrible's organ-design ethos
hangs heavy over the instrument. The
Guillou-world is clearly evident in
Imbert's playing. The least successful
tracks here are the mainstream repertoire;
Imbert is unable to keep the Bach stable,
and moreover gets lost in his myriad
of silly registration changes. The Franck
and Widor are played according to the
Guillou-rules of registration rather
than those of the composers, stability
and legato line are sacrificed.
More enjoyable is the
opening gambit of Cochereau, where the
rather hard-sounding organ seems apt
for anyone who has heard those François
Carbou recordings of the Notre-Dame
organ following Cochereau's radical
alterations in the 1960s. Imbert seems
more willing here to keep within the
bounds of what the music's creator intended.
I wish the rest of the disc had stayed
in the same vain. The final transcriptions
also fare better than the literature,
though again Imbert's lack of rhythmic
solidity slightly spoils the otherwise
quite effective transcription of the
famous "Montaigus et Capulets". The
use of the pizzicato-coupler in the
Shostakovich is a cute effect.
Unfortunately this
(in all senses) ugly instrument would
never be on my itinerary of must-visit
Parisian organs. The CD is only recommendable
for the Cochereau.
Chris Bragg
Jean-Paul Imbert, organ 
