Fantaisie Triomphale

Let's talk acoustics!

This recording of 19th and 20th Century French pipe organ works, all with orchestra, was performed at Liverpool Cathedral. The Liverpool Cathedral is not only the second largest Anglican cathedral, but also the fifth largest cathedral in the world, with the some of the Earth's tallest Gothic arches. Similarly, the Father Willis III organ is not only the largest such instrument in the United Kingdom but also one of, if not the largest fully operational pipe organ in the world. For those interested, I included photographs of the instrument at the very bottom of this blog post.

This beast of an organ is housed in a large stone space, as Liverpool Cathedral is also quite long, coming in at an interior 150 meters in length. I am not sure where the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra was placed inside Liverpool Cathedral, but the organ and its player are also rather high up, far away from the floor. I can only assume an electronic extension was used to place the organist near the orchestra instead of a closed circuit camera setup.

I imagine the recording engineering must have been a nightmare in this space. Indeed, listening to this Hybrid SACD, the orchestra is obviously upfront in the mic space, while the pipe organ is further flung. No attempt was made to capture the organ closer, for it would be a horrifying timing issue between instrument and orchestra. Placing microphones between the two would have made the music one big musical cathedral soup, methinks.

The best results for my setup was listening with headphones. The organ has more rhythmic presence against the orchestra, in music which doesn't eschew the orchestral winds or brass. On speakers, the organ burbled along enigmatically in the background at its subtler moments, almost as if the listener is wandering around an aquarium or shopping mall. In both cases, the orchestra was clearly defined, with the trumpets, strings (bowed and plucked), and percussion clearly discernible.

All of this technical talk is for nought if the music isn't worth listening to. Most of these are grand spectacles from greatly revered French organ composers of their day. Musically speaking, I enjoyed the four contrasting selections from Alexandre Guilmant the most. The Stabat Mater Meditations feature that descending chromaticism and weeping sigh motives which are so effective in a Stabat Mater setting. Guilmant's Schumann Finale is noticeably Romantic in quite a different way, while the Opus 81 Allegro has notes of the Baroque to it. The harps come through marvelously whenever they appear, but in a rather lovely way in Guilmant's Marche-fantaisie.

Maybe because a lot of these concertante pieces are splashy curtain closers, I am taken with the rather sedate Cortège et Litanie from Marcel Dupré. I almost wish Rumon Gamba would have taken more time, especially considering the acoustic, and laid into the Romantic aspect of the work more. Saint-Saëns' Cyprès et Lauriers notably sets the first part for organ solo, allowing the listener to revel in the Liverpool Cathedral instrument away from the orchestra. So too, the titular Fantaisie Triomphale from Théodore Dubois is composed in such a way that orchestra and organ go back and forth rather than overlap, probably an intelligent musical choice.

But little of this program is going to astound for their musical virtues. Instead, the spectacle of having an orchestra alongside a pipe organ is the main attraction. Despite some reservations regarding the acoustic and the quality of the literature, those looking for a bombastic treatment of organ and orchestra will get exactly what they are looking for here, and I wouldn't fault them one bit. Heck, I might be one of them!

 

 

 

Works
Eugène Gigout: Grand chœur dialogué (5.09)
Saint-Saëns: Cyprès et Lauriers (16.10)
Gounod: Fantasy on a Russian Hymn (9.10)
Dupré: Cortège and Litanie (5.22)
Alexandre Guilmant:
   Allegro, op. 81 (4.04)
   Stabat Mater Meditation, op. 63 (7.55)
   Schumann Final, op. 83 (3.52)
   Marche-Fantaisie on two church songs (8.53)
Dubois: Fantaisie Triomphale (10.22)

Soloist
Ian Tracey, organ

Ensemble
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Rumon Gamba, conductor

Label: Chandos
Year: 2007
Total Timing: 72.02

 

 

There may be some qualms regarding the quality of these compositions and the harnessing of the cathedral acoustic.

Yet, the listener receives exactly what such an album purports. Organ and orchestra in the Liverpool Cathedral. I am going to say... Get it!