Search - Charles Tournemire, Timothy Tikker :: Charles Tournemire: The Last Symphonic Organ Works

Definitive interpretations of recently revived works

07/19/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After many years of neglect, the music of Charles Tournemire is being actively explored. He has been remembered primarily for his organ works, but even they have been heard only rarely. Now his last major organ works are available in subtle, expertly crafted performances by Timothy Tikker, one of the formost authorities on this remarkable repertory.For the performer there is a perilous caveat with this music: though it is intended to be "plastic" and "free," it is nonetheless disciplined in that freedom. Often an awareness of this liberty leads performers into loosely meandering interpretations: the result is muddled and painfully self-conscious. A perfect example of this problem may be found in Georges Delvallee's cd (released by Adda), which presents exactly the same program as this one. His tempos frequently drag, and he chose to record at St. Sernin of Toulouse -- a magnificent instrument which, sadly, has manuals with 56 notes and a pedal board of 30 notes: each of these works REQUIRE 61-note manuals and a 32-note pedalboard!!! Delvallee on several occasions has to recompose the music to cope with this limitation -- for example, at the end of the Symphonie-Choral -- and manages to undercut the intended effect noticeably. This is why it is important to experience this music when presented by a performer like Mr. Tikker, who studied with Jean Langlais, one of Tournemire's star students, as well as his successor as organist at Ste. Clothilde.The organ is excellently recorded, and the liner notes -- written by Mr. Tikker -- are concise and instantly reflect his intelligence and musicianship. It is only to be hoped that he will continue to encourage these works by making more recordings."