Search - Alexandre Guilmant, Daniel Roth :: Guilmant: Ausgewählte Orgelwerke, Vol.3

What a difference an organ makes!!!

Avid Reader | Franklin, Tn | 03/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At last, the collection returns to Cavaille-Coll, the famous organ at St. Sulpice. This in itself raises the quality of the recording a whole notch - there is NOTHING like the sonoroties of one those incredible instruments with their coloring and vast range of expression.



Guilmant was in his muscial prime at this point. The fifth sonata dates from 1894, the sixth from 1896. They are still in the "old" style but are looking more toward Rheinberger, composer of twenty brilliant organ sontatas, than Bach. He never broke from his conservativism into the chromatic language of Widor or especially Vierne but compared to the first Sonata these are advanced pieces.



The fifth is a favorite - Guilmant is pushing the boundaries of the tripart classical sonata structure with a five-movement composition, the odd numbers outstanding. The sixth returns to the classical format and even contains a fugue which Widor and Vierne eventually abandoned. It's opening movement (Allegro con fuoco) is impressive in its intensity, unity and sheer bravura.



Given the secularity of modern France, one forgets that these composers practiced a muscular Catholicism that affected each of them deeply. They were church organists and much of their output is liturgical. The Grand Choir (G Minor) can only be called magisterial, especially on this instrument. It is marked appropriately Allegro Moderato e maestoso and sounds every bit as impressive as its marking. A chorale, "Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan", extremely impressive, concludes the recording."