There is a great recording by Michael Radulescu of the entire Apparatus - I hope it's still available. It was recorded on the stylistically appropriate organ of the Michaelerkirche in Vienna. The best edition is by Doblinger - get that, and it will be of great benefit. It is great music and highly useful for playing Catholic liturgies.

The now rather quiescent piporg-l can be searched for threads on Muffat.

I haven't yet got a promised answer to a query about temperaments arising from toccata XI.

Those ornaments are not always written out and it isn't always clear where to put ornamentation. Couperin was quite clear and direct on how he wanted ornaments played. Other composers were vague and left it up to the performer. Remembering that many of them were harpsichordists helps, since ornaments were about the only way to sustain notes on that instrument. They carried those practices into their organ works, even though the organs could sustain notes indefinitely. One of my organ professors once said you can play those ornaments to please your ear, which is what the performers of the day often did. I love French music both Baroque and Romantic, and play it frequently.

Glad to hear it, thanks so much!!

I agree - historical knowledge is no guarantee of good musicianship, but I find that it often informs good musicianship. With early fingering, for instance, I am not slavish to the treatises, but I find that it is an excellent guide into patterns, which gives me ideas, and then great music emerges. It's not all about what the composer intended (and many composers would agree); nor is it entirely up to the performer. It's a mental process, and historical knowledge is a part of that.

Make the music beautiful first, then look to historical performance practices.

I wonder why one would bother, if the steps were in that order! Isn't beauty the goal?

Make the music beautiful first, then look to historical performance practices.

Inform your sense of beauty with research into historical (and other) performance practices.

@Adam Wood: That is precisely why I inquire into performance practice and also why I have a graduate degree in music history :-) I also don't want the piece to sound completely daft (what a great word, Americans should use it more LOL) on my thoroughly modern instrument.

I am no stickler about HIP, even if heavily edited parts irritate me sometimes. In too many instances it leads to bland and completely uninspiring performances. Rather, I am simply making note of my weakness and in this case it's the French style-both organ and violin! The 'Armonico Tributo' is quite helpful in that most of the ornaments ARE written out, although God help me for getting my fingers twisted trying to execute some of them.

@CharlesW: "4 foot proboscishonker" LOL I just startled one of my cats off the bed from laughing too loudly!!!!

I hear ya there. I've learned a LOT about improvising and "improving" poorly written music in this job, especially the contemporary stuff.