Noëls français
Daniel Meylan (organ of the Basilique de Saint-Maximin)
rec. Basilique de Saint-Maximin, Var, France. DDD.
Date not stated.
EDITIONS HORTUS 173 [71:58]
Though I received this for review on CD, UK dealers appear to be offering
it as a download or for streaming only, with a pdf booklet. I mention that
at the outset because I know that it will be a no-no for some readers.
NB: The purchase links are to downloads.
The composing of organ music based on traditional Christmas tunes was quite
an industry in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and we
were not short of similar collections. I’ve mentioned several of these, not
so much for comparison with the new album, which is enjoyable in its own
right, so much as suggestions for further exploration.
Most of these recordings offer a selection of music by various composers; one such
comes on an earlier Hortus release (HORTUS 149, Nicolas Bucher). Presumably
by design, only one of three Daquin pieces there is repeated on the new
recording and the other music is by completely different composers:
Beauvarlet-Charpentier, Alexandre Boëly, Guillaume Lasceux,
Gervais-François Couperin and Nicolas Séjan. Johan van Veen – review –
thought that organ lovers should not hesitate to buy that disc,
recorded on a modern organ which contains elements of earlier builds. If
you already have it, or intend to obtain it, the different programme will
be no obstacle to purchase of the new release.
On yet another Hortus recording Daniel Meylan performs a further selection of Noëls by Balbastre, Dandrieu, Daquin and Corrette. Once again,
duplication has been avoided apart from Dandrieu’s well-known Or nous dites Marie, which features on that and the new recording.
The chief interest of that earlier album is an anonymous setting of the Magnificat for Christmas Vespers, again employing traditional French
tunes. Chris Bragg’s only concern was the short playing time of an
otherwise very recommendable recording; he thought the playing of Meylan
charming, lithe, sophisticated and beautifully ornamented. (Hortus 043, now
download only –
review).
Ton Koopman spreads his net wider than the French Noëls in a
recording of Christmas organ music: alongside pieces by Daquin, Dandrieu
and Lebègue, he offers music by Bull, Sweelinck, Zipoli and Bach. I had
some reservations about aspects of that Challenge Classics recording
(CC72234 –
review), and I much prefer Meylan’s way with this music. He’s much more in tune
with the style of Marie-Claire Alain on a CD of Noëls with which I
compared Koopman and which I wish Warner Classics would reissue. (It’s
available only on the 22-CD Erato collection 2564631064. Who buys these
huge sets?)
Some collections concentrate on the music of a single composer, such as
Olivier Baumont’s album of the Noëls of Balbastre, who composed four
suites of these pieces (Tempéraments 3700). Radio France offer a collection
of the six organ concertos of Corrette, with several of his Noëls
interspersed (TEM316039, Fabio Bonizzoni, organ, with La Risonanza).
Another Baumont recording features the Noëls of Dandrieu on a 2-CD
set which Johan van Veen thought a worthy tribute to the composer
(Tempéraments TEM316041.42 –
review). The three pieces which Meylan plays on the new recording should prove an
attractive taster for those who wish to explore further.
Daquin, whose Op.2 collection is represented by three excerpts on the new
Hortus, is featured on several recordings of the complete Suite, from
Vincent Bouchier (Atma ACD22703, download only) and Adriano Falcioni on
budget-price Brilliant Classics (94895). My personal choice would be
Christopher Herrick on Hyperion. If the Daquin pieces on Hortus catch your
attention, as I believe they will, you may well find yourself as hooked by
the Herrick as I was –
review.
The only problem is that, unbelievably, the budget-price reissue that I
reviewed is now deleted on CD and the disc is available only via the
Hyperion Archive Service for £13.99 or as a download with pdf booklet for
£8.99 (CDA66816 – from
hyperion-records.co.uk).
Listening to a selection of these, both those that I had heard before and
those that I hadn’t, I find Meylan on the new Hortus both the equal of his
former self and of the others. In fact, Chris Bragg, in reviewing that
earlier Meylan selection – see above – has taken the words metaphorically right
out of my mouth. To his descriptions, I’d simply like to add that the
four-manual instrument used here gives him plenty of scope to vary the
registration, so that he can range from charm to power in a piece like Où s’en vont ces gais bergers? (Track 11).
The organ, which dates from 1773-4 has largely withstood nineteenth- and
twentieth-century tampering and, as restored, sounds just the right
instrument for Meylan’s interpretations. In fact, I would have liked more
information; apparently, it has 43 stops, but what they are, much less
those chosen for each piece, we are not told. In some respects, I find that
lack of information more of a disappointment than the short playing time of the earlier album,
but everything else in terms of performance and recording is just right.
I wouldn’t have mistaken Daniel Meylan’s own work which rounds off the
recital for a baroque piece – for one thing it calls for heavier
registration and is as much influenced by the North German as by the French
organ school. It didn’t do much to persuade me of the value of the recording –
that had already been accomplished – but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment, either.
And there are no complaints about the length of playing time on this
occasion.
One notable omission from the composers on the new Hortus recording is
Marc-Antoine Charpentier; consider the addition of a Naxos recording of his Noëls and Christmas Motets from the Aradia Ensemble directed by
Kevin Mallon, with Christopher Dawes, organ, 8.554514). I mentioned that in
my
Christmas survey
last December, together with Mallon’s recording of Charpentier’s Christmas
Midnight Mass and Te Deum. You’ll also find mention there of Les
Arts Florissants’ recording of the Mass, interspersed with several Noëls.
Another Harmonia Mundi recording from Les Arts Florissants which used to be
available as a budget-price CD is now download only and no longer
inexpensive, but still very worthwhile (HMX2921082,Pastorale sur la Naissance de Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ,
H483 and In nativitatem Domini canticum, H414). Another recording
of H483, together with some of
the variants from revisions of that work, H483a and H483b, and the Advent
Antiphons comes from Ensemble Correspondances (HMC902247). I missed that
when it was released, so let me say that it’s every bit as good as Johan
van Veen indicates in his
review.
If all these recommendations seem a trifle overwhelming, the
new Hortus would be a good starting point, unless you can find the Alain
recording.
Just be prepared for it to lead you to explore some of the other recordings
mentioned.
Brian Wilson
Details:
Jean-François DANDRIEU (1682-1738)
Livre de Noëls en La Mineur
(pub.1759)
XVI. Chantons de voix hautaine [5:21]
XVII. Noël de Saintonge [2:43]
III. Or nous dites Marie [5:25]
Louis-Claude DAQUIN (1694-1772)
Nouveau livre de Noëls, Op.2 (1757):
No.6. Noël sur les jeux d’anches, Adam fut un pauvre homme [6:09]
No.10. Noël grand-jeu et duo, Quand Dieu naquit a Noël [6:17]
No.11.
Noël en Recit en Taille, sur la tierce du positif, avec la pedale de
flute, et en duo
[7:08]
Michel CORRETTE (1707-1795)
Nouveau livre de Noëls
(1753)
Suite No.2: I. Vous qui désirez sans fin [6:30]
Suite No.3: III. Je me suis levé [5:02]
Suite No.1: IV. Noël provençal [2:12]
Claude BALBASTRE (1727-1795)
Receuil des Noëls, Première Suite
(1770)
II. Joseph est bien marié [5:31]
III. Où s’en vont ces gais bergers? [6:09]
Deuxième suite de Noëls
: IV. Au jô deu de pubelle [2:07]
Daniel MEYLAN (b.1953)
Voici le jour solennel
[11:21]
