Franck: Grande pièce symphonique in F#m; Guilmant: Sonata for organ No5

On this CD:

1. Grande pièce symphonique, for organ in F sharp minor, Op. 17, M. 29
Composed by Cesar Franck

2. Sonata for organ, No 5 in C Minor, Op 80
Composed by Alexandre Guilmant

Tracks:

Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
Toccata
Toccata
The Emperor's Fanfare
Beaucoup Plus Largement
Dieu Parmi Nous
Finale
Rigaudon
Fanfare
Maestoso

Customer Reviews:

"Blasted" away.......2006-09-27

I am by no standards an expert on music, let alone organ music. I just purchased this CD because I love the sound of the organ, and wanted an album from a mix of artists before I started branching out to single composers. I would also consider myself an audiophile, only listening to high quality music with my portable headphone amplifier and Sennheiser HD-555's. Let me tell you, the quality is perfect, and the music is incredible! Such a full sound, it's *almost* as good as sitting in audience, only lacking the full body experience of organ music. I would recommend this to anybody looking to get a foot into the world of organ music.

Wow!.......2006-06-07

I happen to love organ music, even that tacky Saint-Saens
Third Symphony (with which this CD ends and just the third movement).

I grew up with E. Power Biggs, Virgil Fox, et al. and had never heard of Michael Murray (okay, it's been a while). I bought this delightful CD when it first appeared and before Amazon had been invented.

Upon hearing that most famous work with which Murray begins, I confess I was just this side of hysterical -- I was laughing with pure happiness. Murray's take on is it wonderfully over-the-top in the best possible sense. I have a son-in-law who is a musician and, indeed, does play the organ (i.e., if any of them have had pipes, I don't know, but I'm here to tell you, I don't want to hear ANY but pipe organs -- okay, I'm old).

At any rate, to hear this Toccata and Fugue played with such (carefully studied) abandon so tickled me, I called Brian (the son-in-law) and demanded that he listen while I put it on my stereo.

Now I'm going to send it to my son Bruce upon learning last night that he LOVES organ music. Who knew? He's 54 years old, for goodness' sake and never mentioned that little item before.

For those who like BIG organ works.......2005-09-04

This CD concentrates on the big, showy organ pieces that organists love to play. As an organist myself, I find that such numbers are usually more fun to play than to hear. Fortunately, this CD is very listenable, and makes the case for both playing and listening to these works. I'd buy it again; maybe more telling, I'm looking for some of the music, so I can go play it!

Pure Majestic Power!.......2003-07-20

Corey is right - this is an outstanding organ CD, one of the best I've heard. Murray plays some of the largest and most powerful organs on Earth, and uses the reed stops more than the usual organist to produce great effects and a wall of sound that are majestic in the extreme. The selections are all great virtuoso showpieces, and track #6 by Messiaen (Dieu parmi nous from La Nativite') is especially demonstrative of the great contrasts available in a large organ. The horizontal trumpets in this piece are predominant and very bright, contrasting with the snarling bass of the pedal organ.

A word of caution - this CD requires a capable stereo (think subwoofer) to sound its best. Trust me - if you listen to this CD on a good stereo and if you like organ music, you'll sit there with a big grin on your face and tears in your eyes as you listen to this CD.

Excellent Performance by Murray.......2001-11-09

This is by far one of the best organ CD's I have ever listened to. The variety is very good overall. From the state trumpets at St. John's to the mighty organ of First Congregational Church, Murray provides nice registration on all of the organs sampled. The Finale from Saint-Saens No. 3 is awesome with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy,s direction. Murray provides his own notes on the organs and the pieces in the booklet that is included. This is some fine organ music!!

Average customer rating:

Good Franck Offering
Wonderful music, great organ, performance fine
No fault of his own...
Very good, but it needs passion

Franck: Complete Masterworks for Organ

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Dupré, Franck, Widor: Organ Works
Franck: Complete Organ Works
Vierne: 24 Pieces en style libre
Louis Vierne: Complete Organ Symphonies
The Ruffatti Organ in Davies Symphony Hall

ASIN: B000003CWK
Release Date: 1990-02-23

Tracks:

Fantasy In A
Cantabile
Piece Heroique
Fantasy In C Major, Op.16
Prelude, Fugue And Variation, Op.18
Priere,Op. 20
Final In B-flat Major, Op. 21

Tracks:

Pastorale, Op. 19
Grande Piece Symphonique, Op. 17
Chorale 1 In E Major
Chorale 2 In B Minor
Chorale 3 In A Minor

Amazon.com

Michael Murray's teacher was Marcel Dupré, whose own teacher was Alexandre Guilmant, who was a friend and colleague of Franck. When it comes to organ music, these things matter. The French organ school is the greatest contemporary representation of organ performance and composition. Names like Franck, Widor, Vierne, Tournemire, Dupré and Messiaen read like a "who's who" of great composers for the instrument. Franck's organ music got the ball rolling, and Murray plays these wonderful pieces on an authentic 19th-century French organ constructed by the master himself, Aristide Cavaille-Coll. Add Telarc's state-of-the-art sound to this pedigree, and the result is a first-class recommendation. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Good Franck Offering.......2005-12-03

Michael Murray gives a nice performance of Franck based on his instruction from Dupre. The registration schemes often come from the Dupre tradition, while other performances have just as vital connections with different registration schemes. I personally like the use of the flue choruses where others might include those wonderful but sometimes monotonous reed sounds more often. Demesseiux's fabled Franck cycle resembles Murray's in registration. One reviewer may be correct...little passion, certainly when compared to the superb Alain recording at Caen. However, listen to Dupre and one won't find passion there, either. The music is served quite nicely, anyway. I find Murray's performance engaging and accessible (I am NOT an organist.) I think the organ was miked awfully close and for my taste, Murray's more recent recording of Franck, Widor and Dupre at Ste. Sulpice, while also miked very closely, gives an inviting, clearer sound, particularly since Murray uses the mixtures to unusually nice effect for that instrument. The Franck cycles I've heard over the past 30 years each has its own merits, and Michael Murray's is an equally fine offering.

Wonderful music, great organ, performance fine.......2005-05-24

The other reviewers for this offering have found fault with Michael Murray's performance and the organ tuning. I may be tone deaf or something, but I have no complaint with either of these issues.

The Cavaille-Coll instrument at St. Sernin comes out in this recording really magnificent with great miking by Renner and his recording team. I can listen to this recording at very high levels and it is clear and well defined, as compared with the Telarc-Murray recording at St. Sulpice, which is muddy and somewhat ill-defined. I listen to these two discs frequently and enjoy them each time.

Sometimes I can not believe all of us reviewers are discussing the same performance, but this is how folks can get a viewpoint on recordings before spending their money on them.

No fault of his own..........2004-09-09

I thoroughly enjoy Michael Murray's style of playing and his interpretations of the great organ works he has committed to recording. It pains me, then, to see a recording such as this released on an INSTRUMENT that, while lauded as one of the greats, sounds painful at times through the duration of the recording. The tuning is at times, horrendous and blatantly displayed. I cite specifically track 3 on CD #1, The Piece Heroique (8:00 minutes) as a prime example of either this organ's apparent neglect or its simple lack of tuning. In short, my hesitation in buying the album would stem only from the aforementioned problems and not from the interpretation or performance. Why another organ could not have been used or why these problems could not have been rectified before the recording is beyond me.

Very good, but it needs passion.......1998-10-28

This should have been better. Telarc has one of the best recording teams, Michael Murray is an excellent organist, Cesar Franck is one of the best composers for the organ, and the organ at Saint Sernin is one of the best for this music. So, why am I not thrilled? I think it's a lack of passion, or je ne sais quoi. It just doesn't move me like Virgil Fox's or Fred Swann's performances.

Average customer rating:

Masterly Dupre and Widor - mannered Franck
Best ever recording of the St. Sulpice organ

Dupré, Franck, Widor: Organ Works

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Franck: Complete Masterworks for Organ
Jongen: Symphonie Concertante For Organ & Orchestra/Franck: Fantasie In A/Pastorale
Louis Vierne: Complete Organ Symphonies
Widor: Complete Organ Works Vol. 5
The Willis Organ at Salisbury Cathedral

ASIN: B00005B7K9
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Tracks:

Magnificat VI
Carillon, Op.27, No.4
Choral Et Fugue, Op.57
Tres Lent Et Sans Rigueur, Op.18,No.3: Antiphon III
Cortege Et Litanie, Op.19, No.2
Final, Op.27, No.7
Grande Piece Symphonique, Op.17: Andantino Serioso; Allegro Non Troppo E Maestoso - Andante-Allegro-Andante - Allegro Non Troppo E Maestoso - Beaucoup Plus Largement
Finale

Customer Reviews:

Masterly Dupre and Widor - mannered Franck.......2004-05-07

I recommend this recording very highly. The sound of the organ and playing is magnificent especially in the Dupre and Widor selections. The Franck "Grand Piece Symphonique" however, is another story. After all the scholarship and attention to original playing editions in the past 30+ years, it amazes me that Murray still hangs on to the mannered, in my opinion, highly unmusical, Lemmens' 'legato' style in his interpretation of the Franck work. Buy this for the Dupre and Widor selections, they are amazing!

Best ever recording of the St. Sulpice organ.......2002-12-13

American organist Michael Murray (Marcel Dupré's last American pupil and Dupré's biographer) together with the recording engineers at Telarc have scored a winning combination with this new recording of Cavaille-Coll's *opus magnum* instrument. The three composers represented all have a link to the organ of St. Sulpice. The Dupre works are engaging, with a tight sense of construction and a dash of post-romantic harmonies, quintessentially French. My first impression of the Widor Finale from Sym. No. 6 was that Murray plays it too slow; however upon repeated listenings I find his tempo just right; the piece unfolds at the proper pace, and no details are lost (this was after all Widor's own organ). As it is, truly majestic and truly exciting. The varied sections of the Franck show a great mastery of form and emotional intensity that Murray carries off with aplomb. The recorded sound is AWESOME, from the singing foundation stops, powerful ensembles, lovely solo registers, to shimmering celestes, brilliant reeds and mixtures, and the teeth-rattling intensity of the pedal Contre-bombarde. The recording captures the ideal balance of instrument and acoustics. An absolute "must have" for organ enthusiasts!

"Michael Murray Plays Dupré, Franck, Widor "

Average customer rating:

"Michael Murray Plays Dupré, Franck, Widor "
Murray , Dupre , Franck , and Widor
Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000067FUT
Release Date: 2002-04-30

Average customer rating:

Vol. 4-1963 & 65/Command Performances

Manufacturer: Organarts
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Trios | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Preludes | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Toccatas | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000BVB098
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Average customer rating:

Excellent recording of Franck

Franck: The Great Organ Works Vol. 1

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

$6.99 and Under | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music

All Classical Music Blowout | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music

Instrumental | Classical Music Blowout | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Franck: Great Organ Works, Vol. 2
Mendelssohn: Organ Sonatas Nos. 1 - 6, Op. 65
Brahms: Complete Organ Works
Rheinberger:Works for Organ, Vol. 1
Reger: Chorale Fantasia on How Brightly Shines the Morning Star; Organ Pieces, Op. 59; Introduction and Passacaglia i

ASIN: B0000542H5
Release Date: 2001-03-20

Tracks:

Fant in C, Op.16: Poco Lento
Fant in C, Op.16: Allegretto Cantando
Fant in C, Op.16: Quasi Lento
Fant in C, Op.16: Adagio
Grande Piece Sym, Op.17: Andantino Serioso
Grande Piece Sym, Op.17: Allegro Non Troppo E Maestoso
Grande Piece Sym, Op.17: Andante
Grande Piece Sym, Op.17: Allegro
Grande Piece Sym, Op.17: Andante
Grande Piece Sym, Op.17: Allegro Non Troppo E Maestoso
Prld, Fugue Et Var, Op.18: Andantino
Prld, Fugue Et Var, Op.18: Lent
Prld, Fugue Et Var, Op.18: Allegretto Ma Non Troppo
Prld, Fugue Et Var, Op.18: Andantino
Priere, Op.20: Andantino Sostenuto
Final, Op.21: Allegro Maestoso

Customer Reviews:

Excellent recording of Franck.......2005-10-26

Cesar Franck is one of my favourite composers for the organ. I bought this CD a few weeks ago, and I've been pretty pleased by it. Eric Lebrun is a talented organist and the instrument he plays has been kept up in good shape over the years.

His tempos are somewhat brisker than those of Murray, especially in the Grand Piece Symphonique, Op. 17. But the church of Saint Antoine des Quinze-Vingts is a more intimate space than that of Saint Sulpice. Also, the organ is quite a bit smaller than that of Saint Sulpice. It is somewhat a more intimate Franck, I suppose, than Franck played at Saint Sulpice or Saint Sernin in Toulouse.

Still, it is an excellent introduction to the organ music of Cesar Franck.

Average customer rating:

César Franck: The Complete Organ Music

Manufacturer: Bis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000016A1
Release Date: 1994-03-25

Tracks:

Fantaisie, Opus 16
Grande Pi Symphonique, Opus 17: Andantino Serioso
Grande Pi Symphonique, Opus 17: Andante. Allegro.Andante
Grande Pi Symphonique, Opus 17: Allegro Non Troppo E Maestoso
Prde - Fugue - Variation, Opus 18
Pastorale, Opus 19
Priere, Opus 20
Final, Opus 21

Tracks:

Fantaisie
Cantabile
Piece Heroique
Andantino Pour Grand Orgue
Mi Majeur
Si Mineur
La Mineur

Average customer rating:

Good with reservations
PERFECT DIAPASON

The Organ Works of César Franck

Manufacturer: Dorian Recordings
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000001Q8I
Release Date: 1993-08-31

Tracks:

Piece Heroique
Pastorale
Fantaisie en La Majeur
Premier Choral en Mi Majeur
Deuxieme Choral en Si Mineur
Troisieme Choral en La Mineur

Tracks:

Final
Fantaisie en Ut Majeur
Prelude, Fugue et Variation
Cantabile
Priere
Grande Piece Symphonique

Customer Reviews:

Good with reservations.......2005-06-20

Jean Guillou is a stimulating thinker and charismatic performer. I have attended his weekly recitals at St. Eustache where he has something of a cult following.
If you want to hear someone use a state of the art computer-aided instrument to do provocative things with the Franck organ works, this is your man.
However, if you prefer performances that reflect the past traditions of the works, use the distinctive sound of a Cavaille-Coll organ and hew to the composer's detailed registrations, this is anything but that.
I think these are interesting readings, but they represent a contrarian viewpoint, more extrovert and oddly colored than the norm. For the old-time religion, go to Marie-Claire Alain.

PERFECT DIAPASON.......2004-12-15

Franck is probably more closely identified with the organ than any other 19th century master. In total playing time his 12 compositions for it come to about three times the length of Brahms's. This may not seem a lot, but it represents a fairly high percentage of Franck's total output, which was not huge, and it keeps matters in some kind of perspective to say that at roughly two and a half hours of music Franck's organ compositions are comparable in length to the total of the Brahms symphonies.

Anything they lack in quantity they seem to me to make up for in quality. They are big in their general `feel', even the Priere and the B major Cantabile; and the three chorales, taking a quarter of an hour apiece, are not at all like what Brahms or even Bach understood by the term. This particular recording strikes me as extremely distinguished in more ways than one. It was made in 1989 using the then new organ at the church of St Eustache in Paris. The performer here is the composer Jean Guillou, well known as an interpreter of organ music from Bach onwards but also, it appears, a technical expert who actually had some input into the design of this specific instrument. The liner-note `sells' him pretty strenuously, but I buy what it's selling. There is a fine natural sense of Franck's idiom, natural as regards the lyricism, natural as regards the feeling for these large structures, natural in the rhythmic sense - I was not surprised to learn that Guillou keeps alive the art of improvisation, seemingly almost defunct these days. I am a strong enthusiast for Franck. He has a very individual and completely unmistakable personal idiom, and music lovers who know that from the symphony, the chamber works and the piano pieces will know exactly what I mean. One hears it strongly here in the three chorales in particular, Franck's last composition. He shows another side of his personality in the three `exhibitionist' works here, the Piece Heroique, the Grande Piece Symphonique and the real show-off effort, a `Finale' - Chopin wrote preludes that were not preludes to anything, Brahms wrote intermezzi that were not between anything, so it was only fair that someone should turn out a stranded finale, and what an exciting bit of work it is.

The anonymous liner note is good in many ways, so good in fact that I would have wanted it better. There is a little bit about the place of these works in the composer's oeuvre, but with some reasonable amount of space available for once I would have liked less of it to go on `narrative' commentary on the individual pieces - this leads to that which is followed by the other. When all's said and done I can supply that sort of thing myself, and I would have liked more insights into the development of Franck's style, the influences on his manner and how these works stand in relation to his own other music and the music of other masters. Very properly there is an outline specification of the design of the instrument, but where the liner is particularly interesting is in what it has to say about the recording, which is quite superlative, notably in the way the quieter registers are captured but above all in its fearless handling of the bass. Indeed a thoughtful and solicitous warning is given to us to set our volume-level carefully for our own protection. I am grateful, and thoroughly taken aback by this unusual concern, but in fact I was perfectly happy with the normal volume setting that I use for most records of various types of music, and I felt no need to use any special `management'.

It all gets outstandingly high marks from me - the instrument, the recording, the playing, the interpretation. If this is your kind of music, I am confident you are going to like it as done here. If you think it isn't your musical scene I still recommend giving it a try. This set has the potential for making converts.

Average customer rating:

best by far -- if you can find it
The Real Deal for Franck Organ...
The Definitive Franck for Organ

Cesar Franck: Great Organ Works

Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Fantasies | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000005E3X
Release Date: 1996-04-09

Tracks:

Piece Heroique
Cantabile
Fant in A
Grande Piece Symphonique Op.17: Andantino Serioso
Grande Piece Symphonique Op.17: Andante
Grande Piece Symphonique Op.17: Allegro
Grande Piece Symphonique Op.17: Andante
Grande Piece Symphonique Op.17: Allegro Non Troppo E Maestoso
Grande Piece Symphonique Op.17: Beaucoup Plus Largement Que Precedemment
Pastorale Op.19
Fant Op.16: Poco Lento
Fant Op.16: Allegro Cantando
Fant Op.16: Quasi Lento
Fant Op.16: Adagio

Tracks:

Prld, Fugue Et Var Op.18: Andantino
Prld, Fugue Et Var Op.18: Lent. Allegretto Ma Non Troppo
Prld, Fugue Et Var Op.18: Var: Andantino
Trois Chorals: No.1 in E: Moderato
Trois Chorals: No.2 in b: Maestoso
Trois Chorals: No.3 in a: Quasi Allegro
Priere Op.20
Final Op.21

Amazon.com

Franck was the first great organ composer after Bach. Kind of amazing when you think about it. Just what were all those other guys doing for 125 years? The truth is that great organ music is inextricably bound up with the availability of great organs, and in the mid- to late-19th century a French organ builder named Aristide Cavaille-Coll created what are arguably the finest instruments of that century. These huge instruments, with their almost orchestral variety of sound, encouraged composers like Franck to return to the instrument and create music worthy of their new sonic potential. The first fruits of the new French organ school are here, expertly played and recorded. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

best by far -- if you can find it.......2005-06-20

Of the recent sets of Franck organ works, the differences are clear enough. Michael Murray is forthright but dull, while Jean Guillou is excitable but so oblivious to the letter of the score, especially in registrations, as to seem daft.
Marie-Claire Alain's performances display her trademark combination of reverence and alertness and she is superbly recorded on the Cavaille-Coll organ of St. Etienne de Caen.
It is by far the best set out there...but that's the problem. It's too far out there, not currently available in the US. One hopes that the Warner Apex budget re-issue that is currently available in Europe and the UK will soon appear here as well.

The Real Deal for Franck Organ..........2004-05-24

Fin-de-siecle Franco-Belgian musique performed by a Frenchwoman on the Cavaille-Coll organ (1884) at St. Etienne, France, issued on the French label Erato: this is the real deal.

Bruckner was certainly one of the greatest organists since Bach, but unfortunately he saw not fit to inscribe any of his great works on paper; so, the honor falls to Franck. Interesting note: in the spring of 1869, Bruckner performed Bach on the Cavaille-Coll organ, La Notre Dame de Paris, before Franck and others. Both Franck and Bruckner were devout Wagnerians; undoubtedly they found much to discuss after the concert. Incidentially, Franck's d-minor Symphony draws many aural parallels with Bruckner's oeuvre of Nos. 0-9. May we infer that Franck's organ works likewise draw parallels with Bruckner's improvisations, now lost in the sea of time? Possibly.

In addition, Franck's String Quartet and Bruckner's String Quintet share aesthetic topoi: pity we don't have more Bruckner chamber works; fortunately we have Franck's Piano Quintet, Violin/Flute Sonata, and piano works. Perhaps we can hear an echo of Bruckner in them.

Oh, yes, let us not forget Franck's oeuvre for harmonium: Bruckner also relished the exquisite timbres and tessitura of the harmonium: he owned a fine instrument, as is seen in the c.1894 photograph of him in his Vienna flat, seated at his Bøsendorfer grande salle piano. The harmonium is directly behind his left shoulder, closed, with the pedals up, and music paper stacked upon it (--by '94, Bruckner was too old and infirm to pump the harmonium any longer). Franck's complete harmonium works performed by Joris Verdin on the Ricercar label (2002) are highly recommended.

The Definitive Franck for Organ.......2001-04-24

Marie-Claire Alain's newest recording of Cesar Franck's works for organ is the one by which all others should be compared. We are treated to some of her very best playing...very free and imaginative, and exceedingly interesting. As usual, Mme. Alain has included insightful program and performance notes. It is her playing that provides listeners a deep look into the soul and mind of Franck. The Cavaille-Coll organ at St. Etienne in Caen is superbly recorded, and detailed notes on registrations are provided. You will experience musicianship of the highest order.