Search - Marie-Claire Alain :: Jehan Alain: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 2

The second of two well-filled discs of Jehan Alain's organ music performed by his sister, Marie-Claire Alain, one of today's great organists, is as desirable as the first volume. Here, she plays on three organs, each familiar to the composer. The opening Trois Danses, from the young composer's last years before his death in the 1940 German invasion, sounds especially fine on the great Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Madeleine. It's a major work, full of wit but also with a middle movement of grave portent. As in Volume 1, these are all very short pieces that manage to say a lot, concision triumphing over verbosity. Intermezzo, one of the "longer" works at five minutes, is especially remarkable for its complexity, variety of colors, and obsessive ostinato. The disc closes with the humorous Fantasmagorie, whose dancing theme, redolent of a Bedouin campfire party, is brought to an abrupt stop by a very "churchy" held note. Excellent sound, superb performances. --Dan Davis