{"id":14341,"date":"2013-08-08T07:35:13","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T12:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=14341"},"modified":"2013-08-08T07:35:13","modified_gmt":"2013-08-08T12:35:13","slug":"keyboard-thursday-album-review-olivier-latry-dazzles-at-the-organ-of-notre-dame-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2013\/08\/08\/keyboard-thursday-album-review-olivier-latry-dazzles-at-the-organ-of-notre-dame-in-paris\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyboard Thursday album review: Olivier Latry dazzles at the organ of Notre-Dame in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Olivier<\/a>
Olivier Latry at the brand-new organ console at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To celebrate the 850th anniversary of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, its titular organist Olivier Latry has put together a spectacular showcase of music written or improvised by the institution’s keyboard masters.<\/p>\n

Released by France’s Na\u00efve label, Three Centuries of Organ Music at Notre Dame de Paris<\/em> contains 14 pieces, ranging from a reflective piece by Guillaume-Antoine Calvi\u00e8re (1685-1755) to a spiky 4-1\/2 minute improvisation by Latry on a Salve Regina plainchant.<\/p>\n

\"orgue\"<\/a>Among the cathedral’s greatest composer-organists was Louis Vierne, hired in 1900 at age 30 and who died at the instrument, in the middle of a concert, in 1937.<\/p>\n

Ironically, given his near-blindness, Vierne represents the height of multicoloured creativity with the instrument’s many tonal options, which range over five keyboards plus pedals.<\/p>\n

Latry’s predecessor, Pierre Cochereau (1924-1984), is responsible for a fabulous Bol\u00e9ro<\/em>, which transforms the sacred instrument into a virtual Wurlitzer theatre organ.<\/p>\n

One of the church’s assistant organists, Jean-Pierre Leguay, who is a generation older than Latry, is represented by three modernist Pr\u00e9ludes<\/em> that also feature percusssion.<\/p>\n

Included on the disc is one of the famous No\u00ebls<\/em> by Louis-Claude Daquin (1694-1772) and two marches from the French Revolution set by Claude Balbastre (1727-1799).<\/p>\n

Latry, who has set alight the organ at Roy Thomson Hall in ways few other organists can, is a master at subtle, gradual, transformation of sound and atmosphere. There isn’t a dull moment in these 75 minutes of spectacular musicmaking.<\/p>\n

For all the details, as well as the opportunity to sample the audio, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is the making-of video:<\/p>\n