Stephen Roberts comments are excerpted from a cross posting on three lists concerning his recent trip...annually his class goes to Europe to study and play great organs. I feel that you will find his comments of interest. He has an excellent organ program at his University. These reports may have a lot to do with the popularity of his program.

On Feb 19, 2008, at 7:57 PM, Stephen Roberts wrote:

(The is the seventh installment in an ongoing series about a study tour to France by my organ class at Western CT State University)

Early on Sunday morning, January 13, my students and I got up early and took the Metro to Cite, the stop closest to Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. The entrance to the Tribune, where the organ console is located, is on the outside of the Cathedral in the garden between the Bishop's residence and the cathedral itself. There was a group of about 15 people there; Olivier Latry greeted us warmly and led the way to the Tribune. He asked us to stay quiet and not to go up to the railing, as the clergy don't like to have too many people in the Tribune during Mass.

Those who know something of the history of this organ know that the organ was rebuilt and changed a great deal about 40 years ago under the tenure of Pierre Cochereau. The present console looks very much like that of a large American organ, though the pedalboard appears to be a German BDO pedalboard, not the AGO standard that is customary here. The original console is in a small museum in the cathedral complex; it was quite similar to the console of St-Sulpice. One of the most controversial additions during Cochereau's rebuild were very loud reeds, which project from the case in a style similar to that on some Spanish organs. I personally think that these reeds do not harmonize visually with the case, as do the horizontal reeds at St-Sernin, where they are an integral part of the design. I understand why Cochereau might have added them, however, because some critics said that the Notre-Dame organ as originally built lacked sufficient power
in such a huge space.

M. Latry began with an improvisation as the ministers and altar servers entered and approached the approached the altar. The present console seems to work very well, and the organ did not appear to have any of the mechanical problems which plagued it after Cochereau's renovation. Latry is clearly a brilliant improviser; I was especially impressed with his sensitivity to the liturgical actions--everything he did was in perfect taste and completely appropriate to the moment. He apparently has the combination action and memory programmed to work with a sequencer to achieve a perfect crescendo and diminuendo, and he used this feature to great effect in his improvisations at the beginning, the Offertory, and in the Sortie.

The Mass itself included Gregorian chant sung by a small schola of women. There is a choir organ to accompany the schola in the front of the church; the Gloria and Credo made especially effective use of the alternation between the schola accompanied by the choir organ, and the congregation accompanied by the in the Tribune. The liturgy itself was dignified and celebrated with reverence. It looked planned and carefully rehearsed, but not fussy or self-conscious. The congregation sang the chants well; there were clearly enough "regulars" there to carry the singing of the chants. I couldn't help thinking that this was actually what the reformers of Vatican II had in mind. The students said that Mass at Notre-Dame, and especially the spectacular improvisations by Olivier Latry, was a real high point of our trip. M. Latry was very warm and friendly, and he gladly answered all the questions that were asked of him.

We had met a French pianist at M. Latry's recital at St-Gervais the previous day, and the same gentleman was at the Mass at Notre-Dame. He told us that Jean Guillou would be playing a recital at St-Eustache in the late afternoon. Once again, we were faced with a choice: whether to go to Versailles as we had planned, or go to St-Eustache to hear Guillou. The students discussed these two possibilities and decided to go to St-Eustache. They said, "We came here primarily to study music and organs, and we think that we ought to go to the recital. After all, Versailles will be here whenever we return to France." I thought that was very sensible: I didn't want to make this decision for the students, since I was not visiting France for the first time.

We rushed off to the Metro and took line 4 to St. Sulpice. When we arrived at the church, the people were receiving Communion; since it was the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, Daniel Roth was playing "Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam" from the Clavierubung III of Bach. Mass ran overtime, and as a result the , the recital which takes place before the Mass at Noon, had to be cut short. The same thing had happened to me five years before when I played the there. Daniel Roth himself was playing the on that day; the program was supposed to be some improvisations plus a transcription of the slow movement of the d minor symphony of Cesar Franck.


Forwarded by noel at sjnmusic.com