Marcel Dupré plays Cortege et Litanie at St Sulpice

[@RoboticsBay]

Down the shivers... masterpiece... organ is so much underrated...

[@burtward895]

You said shivers. You must be beaten now.

[@BostonHarborLight]

To those who are of the opinion that a composer isn't necessarily the best performer of his or her work, in this case I must respectfully disagree. To hear the master play this sublime composition on the organ for which it was composed is both fulfilling and instructive. Thank you for making this recording more accessible.

[@HeatherYoung-jt7fp]

I agree particularly when listening to anything Dr Francis Jackson played personally.

[@georgemurphy2579]

In most cases you are correct, but there are always some exceptions to that rule. When Messiaen recorded his own works at Ste. Trinite in Paris, many said they had heard better performances from other organists.

[@erichkusterer6339]

Gut, das erste Stück ist nicht allzu schwer und er hat es gut gespielt, vielleicht eine Idee zu schnell.

[@paulcaswell2813]

What on earth does Marcel do at 30 seconds? I've never, ever heard S Sulpice's string stops so clearly and magically displayed. Neither Roth nor Cauchefer-Choplin have used this effect, and of course Widor's recordings were on 78 so we really cannot tell. Magnificent use of this gem of an instrument by Dupré here.

[@gb5uq]

Yes it's stunning isn't it. I replayed it several times. Absolutely amazing.

[@gooseholla1]

Sounds like the most beautiful accordion in the world!!

[@SoggySandwich80]

@Fredi Haslinger maybe a Celeste too

[@mwk12kev]

Mike placement in front of the Récit. The album notes talk about it.

[@wweinmann1949]

I love this performance.

[@twillert-organ-projects]

This is the perfect interpretation. Great and a great organist and composer he was, Marcel Dupré. Thank you for uploading.

[@georgefelty6357]

What a treat to hear Dupre play his own music!

[@jackgedzelman5314]

This organ is decidedly not out of tune. It is a divine masterpiece of the 19th century romantic french organs and it has a world of colors peculiar to itself.. Dupre was a wonderful organist and composer and this work is so very wonderful. I had the privilege of hearing him play the afternoon Sunday mass at St. Sulpice in the summer of 1968. The performance was replete with his particular and marvelous tempo rubato and considering that he was at least eighty years of age, the performance I will never forget. I have known this recording for more than forty years and it is continually thrilling to hear it again and again

[@organbuilder272]

+Jack Gedzelman SYMPHONIC ORGAN!!!! Romantics did not come in until about 1910 They were designed to play romantic orchestral works.

[@JoshuaSobel]

It is decidedly out of tune, but what does it matter? This is beautiful music! And you are right, this recording is amazing.

[@paulcaswell2813]

It's a French symphonic organ. The slight 'out-of-tuneness' is part and parcel of their character!

[@JoshuaSobel]

@@paulcaswell2813 exactly!

[@crosier3]

I was a student of Dupré in the summer of 1968 and spent every Sunday at St Sulpice! He was suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis then and could barely reach an octave, but still played magnificently!

[@amandabruce9373]

Listening to this (especially the cortége) today, in its original beauty, on such a somber day around the world.

[@organum74]

So great ! I love Dupré's works, and it's marvellous to hear him on 'his' wonderful organ !

[@marsvltor2]

After too many listenings, this performance still sends shivers down my spine...Thank you for posting JF.

[@JFSnail]

This is my favourite interpretation of this piece, Dupré gets more emotion and power into this recording than any other. Plus its played on one of the most sublime pipe organs on earth.

[@MegaCirse]

Un tel iconoclasme, une telle grandeur, un tel improbable paysage cosmique plein de ténèbres, de lumière, de peur et d’émerveillement et surtout de mystère, avec des répétitions qui vous plongent dans une transe suivie de changements soudains qui vous réveillent, les yeux écarquillés et les sourcils frissonnants. J'écoute cela de temps en temps depuis 25 ans et j'entends encore de nouvelles subtilités..

[@renetetienne1677]

Comme je partage et vous comprends.

[@ginathegreat3858]

If only KZbin could reproduce the floor shaking through the finale, it would be mind-blowing. Even so, this music, performed this way, is to me a forestaste of Heaven.

[@TurtleFL]

It's nice to hear somebody play it who knows how it's supposed to go. :-"

[@SoggySandwich80]

Well ist the composer of the piece it’self playing it so

[@walterarchibald1318]

No! That's not how music works. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[@kontrahylian]

Monsieur Dupré was indeed one of the great heroes of l'orgue française of course I still believe that france has some of the world's greatest contemporary organists, Monsieur Roth at Sant Sulpice, And monsieur Latry at Notre Dame de Paris

[@ds1868]

Another gem of a recording, thanks for posting!

[@jsc5492]

Thanks for this wonderful tribute to a man and his machine.

[@MelosAntropon]

@contrebombarde1895 : Yes, Cavaille-Coll's strings were always very strident. What impresses me most about this recording is how he (after years of experience there) adjusts his touch perfectly for the *acoustic* of St. Sulpice, especially noticeable on the final chords, which would have become mashed-up garbage in the hands of an organist who wasn't adapting to the reverberation of that room.

[@williamstead160]

Here is a find. It is a great and wonderful thing to hear the composer play his own works, on an organ to his liking. Had I saw this in a records store back in 1959, I would have snatched it up ion an instant. William Stead

[@bernarddesaintvaulry5366]

Une pièce qu'on a toujours plaisir à entendre!

[@advisorC101]

I am more inclined to think that this is just the pure natural beauty of the work we are hearing here, rather than the composer 'interpreting' his own work. And you're so right, a monumental Cavaille-Coll organ that has not suffered the ravages of "taste" and "new tech", unlike so many of its counterparts... This organ is the one that inspired me to learn.

[@wupperfeld]

Wonderful. Thank you for this document !

[@JFSnail]

The picture is a photograph of Dupré at his house organ in Meudon, it was built by Cavaillé-Coll for his father Albert Dupré and rebuilt many years later with four manuals.

[@Gcizzlito]

Thanks very much for posting this, it's really quite wonderful

[@poplarboydavid]

Fantastic!!!!!!!!! The final bars are spine-tingling!

[@harryscher5762]

thank you for posting this magnificent recording. Dupre was in his prime in the 1950s. So wonderful to hear his interpretation of the piece.

[@glennquader7389]

Thank you for sharing this masterpiece..I will be programming it now for 2018-2019!

[@advisorC101]

This is absolutely gorgeous, Dupre was a pure genius.

[@frankwhite8890]

I was very lucky to hear him on the organ at The Royal Albert Hall. However this turned out to be either his final or penultimate public appearance as a player. A brilliant man and composer.

[@paulcaswell2813]

I believe his final performance was at his beloved S Sulpice, but I may be wrong.

[@lebbijan]

This is great, thank you for posting it.

[@ihadaralf]

As near perfect a combination gets. Composer = organist, organ = composer/organist's organ. Divine.

[@jackgedzelman5314]

When I was eighteen in 1966, I went to Vesper service at St Sulpice in Paris and heard Marcel Dupre play on that gigantic organ with his characteristic peculiar to him only rubato and how he meshed it into the melodic and harmonic fabric. I knew from this disc alone that it was him playing. He was a marvelous musician, not only was his organ music marvelous, but his touch on that 19th Century gigantic organ marvelous and I will carry a distinct memory his sound to my grave

[@bobnrainy]

An incredible composition and performance!

[@organum74]

Yes, the best interpretation, that is right. And so nice hearing the Master himself, on "his" organ. The last crescendo is fantastic, incredible ! And a wonderful recording too !

[@twillert-organ-projects]

The best playing is by the master himself

[@penmerch2804]

This is what is known as a definitive performance.

[@eerse078]

niet noodzakelijkerwijs

[@peteacher52]

What a wonderful sound! Dupre and the great Cavaille-Coll - what more need be said?!

[@elfinowl]

Goosebumps big time! I so love this piece!

[@godspringirl1]

Really beautiful!

[@JimMeehan]

The importance of this recording is how it helps us understand how we might play the piece in our churches and halls, given their acoustics and the instruments we have, knowing what it sounded like when Dupré played it at St. Sulpice in 1958. He chose a tempo and a registration for that instrument, but those might not be appropriate, let alone possible, for us. Ultimately, you want to *play the music*; you do not want to imitate Dupré at St. Sulpice in 1958. Also, a (literal) footnote: the Cortege opens with a lovely subject in the right hand ("soprano") and a matching countersubject in the left ("bass"), which are easy to hear. Toward the end of the Litanie, which has its own theme, they return in full force. The right hand is playing the subject with chords, the left hand is playing the Litanie, the *left foot* is playing the countersubject, and the *right foot* is playing yet another line. Audiences don't appreciate the mental and physical gymnastics it takes to play this "short, simple" piece, or the challenges in registration to enable all this to be heard clearly. (Hint: I love this piece.)

[@thndrsound47]

The memory is not what it used to be. I almost heard Dupre in Dallas in 64 or 65 for the Nieman Marcus Fortnight. He was to be playing the Poulenc Organ Concerto on the SMU Campus. This I believe, but the details are fuzzy. Transportation problems forced me to return to North Texas State U before the concert. I could kick myself for not finding another way home to have heard him. I don't know if he traveled to the US again or not. Ah, youth! This recording is wonderful.

[@Toccataind565]

My favorite recordings that he did at St. Sulpice were the Franck's works that were on Volume 3 with the Grandé Piéce Symphonique, Pastorale and the Fantasie in A (which is my all-time fave) and the three chorales with Piéce Heroique at the Aeolian-Skinner at St. Thomas' church in NYC. This GORGEOUS piece was on volume 2, the Lamento being my fave of the album, all recorded between 1956 to 59. Love his performances in these! SUBLIME!

[@sounddynamicsassociates3193]

Thank you, JF!!!

[@orgelfan1675]

0:32 I love this chord

[@paul-emilezeissloff2831]

Magnifique

[@pg3529]

Wow !!!

[@gmc0422]

Who better to play this but le maitre himself! This is one of my favourite pieces of organ literature. 'Tis a pity I've never learned it.

[@WoodymC]

It's never too late.

[@wolfgangwiesinger9502]

Hi. I am hobby pianist and working on this for the third year now.

[@md95065]

@JFSnail Dupré's house organ was originally built for Guilmant in 1900 - it was acquired by Dupre in 1925 and later was extensively modified - the picture here shows the original console

[@burtward895]

Another one of my first cds I bought at Peaches records after I just happened into the hidden fishbowl in the back of the store with the really nice Koss cans. My thoughts were geared on how the nice stuff was sequestered.

[@jeanseborg]

Thank you so much for posting this!! I'm suscribing to your channel NOOOOOOOOOOOW!!! ;^)

[@nessunoanomino4506]

bellissimo, darrei la vità, per improvvisare- compore- suonare, come lui!?

[@georgemurphy2579]

As nice an instrument as the new Dobson is, it cannot compare with this. All ducks were in a row here. Organ, organist, recording company combined with a rational period in the history of America yielded this aesthetic experience for me. I performed the Salve Regina on that very instrument exactly 22 years later (mid-October of 1979). It has been a staple in my musical diet for years. A prayer back to God 🙏 Who gave it.

[@lysliepope3967]

I like the tempo of this beautiful music. What I find sad is,in the fact,that most organist play this piece of music much too quickly. Question, what's the rush?

[@drbobdrake]

Mercury has released a 10-CD set of Dupré performances from the original master tapes using the Plangent System. The files can also be downloaded in 96/24 resolution from HDTracks dot com and similar sources.

[@Brockett122]

As a former Dupre student, their is no other way to play this piece other than what you hear here. If you have a favorite rendition you like, fine. But... If you want to know how to play this piece the way the master intended, listen well.

[@chrismusix5669]

I do like Dupre's style, but I had to make some changes when I performed the piece. His execution of the Litanie is a bit slow and ploddy for me, especially at the end.

[@Rheinlander95]

+Chris Musix It's a CORTEGE,, as in, funeral procession, not the Boston marathon. In a cortege …. slow is good. A Litany is a pleading, repetitive prayer. You must be a Protestant.

[@chrismusix5669]

I'm far worse than a protestant :P

[@michedowning7088]

As an unconditional the superlative of appreciating classical music that is organ . I myself have been introduced through M. Marcel Dupre while in stay in Lewiston Maine.I have been taught by the master himself through even more the interpretation of the greatest french composers. I have personal tapes of M. Piché originally from Lewiston Maine rendering music from St Peter and St paul Basilica! MOXART BACH DUPRÉ LANGLAIS VIERNE WIDOR CESAR FRANCK AND THE ULTIMATE DUPRE...I do have custody of these rare recordings..

[@multimapping8303]

You have had lessons of the maestro? That should've been amazing, congrats!

[@JFSnail]

Hello! Sorry, but I made this very quickly and hadn't considered what the conversion from wmv to flv format would have on the sound. I was also worried about file size too! The compression distorts the sound a lot, so in future I will make the transfer rate much higher. The sound on the source CD is just incredible, warm, crystal-clear sound throughout, please don't be put off by my amateurish efforts :-)

[@Toccataind565]

Incidentally, I loved those Haydn House LP to CD transfers! They had a lot of E.Power Biggs albums too! Too bad they went out of business or something, because their website is no longer there on-line.

[@camilloflaim8933]

Of M.Dupre' i remember these and 3 preludes and fugas, Variations sur un Noel.

[@georgefieldsjr.640]

"Magnificent" !

[@gert.ronner]

@JFSnail In fact it was originally built for Alexandre Guilmant in 1899. Dupré bought it in 1926 and had it extensively modified by Beuchet in 1934 ;-)

[@poplarboydavid]

Magnificent ❤️

[@robmcw]

I wish KZbin would increase the audio quality. I can hear phasing from the compressed audio. Almost sounds like an 8 bit conversion.

[@organbuilder272]

He plays with a steady temp but that does not mean it is cold, The crescendo builds up to the final ending. It is a procession, bot a foot race. Step by step. By the way, the composer is playing it. Maybe he liked it this way.

[@dominiquetom317]

quel maitre...

[@SelvesteDovregubben]

My good sir, I concur.

[@JFSnail]

@robmcw this was my first video and didn't understand which was the best conversion method. Now I would use HD and sound is much better, KZbin isn't always to blame :-).

[@KingMarkonian]

❤❤❤

[@8891randy]

For such a large organ, the organ loft there is quite small - but what a sound!!

[@simonsteam]

All the recordings are great in their own way, bt it has to be said to be in St Suplice. when the organist is not having to allow for acoustics for recording etc and can just play the piece in the building acoustics as normal is an incredible experience.

[@gerwinhoekstra]

This photo was not taken in Meudon at all. Guilmant's organ had 27 stops and had an all mechanical action. The organ in the picture is obviously larger and has electrical action (or pneumatic).

[@jmeister321684]

For interest, I rather read the free reed stops were removed under Widor and the 1903 restoration; the 1934 addings were the pedal 16 and 8 Principals, offered at Widor's leaving of St-Sulpice at 90.

[@gert.ronner]

@JFSnail ... and the organ on the mentioned picture is neither St. Sulpice nor his house organ. It's unknown to me, so I can't tell you which one it is.

[@damiantorrevega]

Congratulations!

[@normandevalois]

I love the 'frying-bacon' strings !!

[@AlainLeboeuf]

do you know you tube piano+orgue de M dupré concerto en mimineur ? thanks

[@JButterworth16]

@JFSnail Sorry to resurrect an old post, but is there any chance you could re-upload it at a better conversion rate? No need to worry if not! :)

[@Musicantus007]

I love this music. But where can I find this piece? I form LT and we don't have such sheetmusic

[@MelosAntropon]

@pipes4life12 : Stick to your guns, friend. It is often said that "composers aren't always the best interpreters of their own works". Such is the case here in the "Cortege". Dupré himself marked the cortege "Tres Modere", but he plays it "andante con moto" here. The incredible beauty of it just *blooms* at a slower tempo, as many other recordings of it show perfectly. His tempo for the "Litanie" is perfect, though.

[@Blockedify]

Actually, you're thinking of Durufle playing at the NM French Fortnight at SMU and it was in in the fall of 1966. He played his Eb Minor Prelude first and then the Saint-Saens organ symphony and THEN the Poulenc. His wife gave a concert the night before Dupre came to the USA only once in the 1960's and that was to Detroit to dedicate a new organ at a local Methodist church

[@GlamRockCowboy]

Unfortunately, Haydn House is now out of business, most likely due to a "cease-and-desist" letter from one or more major record labels, even though many of the recordings involved had been out-of-print for a number of years!

[@a55b47]

JF, isn't this recording from one that also contains Dupré playing his Lamento, with a vox humana (or, I guess in this instance, voix humaine) that's about 2 steps out of pitch?

[@florianchurch]

This is the right romantic organ sound! Not like the pseudo-baroque ones that sound like a cross between a harpsichord and a sanding machine!

[@BruceXuHasADream]

DUPRE MADE A MISTAKE!! OMGOMGOMGOMG OMGOMGOMG OMGOMGOMG 2:47 but that is proof that this is a live recording

[@desertorganist]

Not a live performance, but recorded under controlled conditions. However, Dupré was over 70 years of age when this was recorded, and a bit arthritic. His thoughts about his own compositions still have very great value!

[@JoshuaSobel]

@@desertorganist more than a bit arthritic! His hands looked like old oak tree roots.

[@didierduplenne2325]

Maybe a touch of improvisation ?

[@keplergso8369]

The best version... By the Master himself. A masterpiece. The instrument is a bit out of tune, but it is 'living', and the crescendo is magnificent !

[@kempedkemp]

❤❤❤💋 He wrote it . . . no slips I assure you, even at 72; only intentionals 😉

[@marsvltor2]

Definitive. Wonderful playing at his own console. Cochereau - flashy, but in this piece, nowhere near as effective (horizonatal reeds included!). Dupre was phenomenal as both composer and performer...

[@davidcallahan2832]

I have respect for this version and might take it for definitive but for the end where the alternating chords in the manual overwhelm the octave E pedal point to produce an effect that strikes me as---dare I say it?---corny. In other hands and on other instruments these measures are usually electrifying. What happened here?

[@AlainLeboeuf]

Saint sulpice a un "côté" grésillant sur les quartes et les tierces en octave aigües qui blessent "les couleurs" et qui me fait "réticent " sur certains avis autorisés de cette liste .

[@JFSnail]

I assume it to be the Recit 8' Voix Celeste, the organ is a little out of tune, sounds like one though ;-) Ironically this organ did have some free reed stops when C-C first built it, but they were removed in the 1930s restoration. The positif gained a 16' Basson and the Bombarde gained 2 mutations.

[@johanbrand8601]

What are free reed stops?

[@Pipe-organ-recordings]

The photo at 2:45 is mine, I took it. I don't recall being asked for permission to use it.

[@organbuilder272]

=pipe-organ - You are either complaining, seeking recognition or you are planning to sue. - Dupre perhaps, St. Sulpice... It's not even a clear photo. The color doesn't match the other inserts. Why bother claiming it at all? Or maybe say, with some pride, Hey guys, that's my photo in there.

[@twillert-organ-projects]

All for the organ art. A nice picture pipe-organ. Enjoy

[@paulcaswell2813]

It's the over-precious JAV. Panic not!

[@elgar57]

G e t a fukin life

[@Pipe-organ-recordings]

@@elgar57 get a digital take down then

[@claudemasse8028]

The French give us all the scenv

[@robertglass481]

The beauty of the pipe organ is the ever so slight out-of-tuneness. Perfect tune sounds horrible.

[@mariannehartwig8683]

😮😅

[@russellheydon2341]

how can you write something so wonderful and play it without any feeling must have been pissed off !

[@bobnrainy]

+Russell Heydon It is indeed threadbare, cold and mechanical. Yet, he was quite old at the time with many mistakes and many bad phrases. Hope I do that well at his age. This is certainly not the definitive version of this piece. Just the fact that he got the notes makes it a must-hear...despite the fact that he plows through it dispassionately. As a priest, I find his phrasing has little in common with any traditional practice of human recitation or liturgical phrasing. I perform this piece often and I encourage other performers to use this performance of his as a historical reference, and little else. The potential of this masterpiece (and it is a masterpiece) is in the performer's hands if s/he will but master the liturgical phrasing

[@bobnrainy]

+Bob Drayer Hearing the original piano version is also very instructive

[@mikegagnon5757]

+Bob Drayer "Liturgical phrasing" indeed! I like the idea. Currently am the entertainer of many headaches due to the new liturgies under constant construction by the Episcopal Church (USA). I call them "flatline" liturgies. Any thoughts? More to the point... can we change any of this, or is it just being ruthlessly pushed through?

[@bobnrainy]

+mike Gagnon As an Anglican priest in Canada we catch quite a bit of that up here too, but are far too busy singing "The Day That Thou Gavest" to notice it as much. Certainly this piece has incredible emotional potential, but this unspeakably dispassionate performance (like Marie-Claire Alain's rendition of "Litanies") is almost prophetic of the coming death of Christianity as an institution. Almost anyone can write (and boy, do they ever) some exegetical, warm-fuzzy tidbit for recitation for the Sunday morning sleepy-heads to rattle off without emotion to discharge their duty to God. As Kierkegaard might point out, this is natural for a generation of churchgoers who have experience nothing of Christianity but the cold repetition of its liturgy and exegetical tautologies. 870,000,000 million starving and 24,000 children dead of malnutrition daily are a visible testimony of our collective dispassion, while we put the leaky church roof (and all roofs in Christendom leak), gold plated Eucharistic hardware and painting lines on the parking lot ahead of any visible acts of love. In Canadian PWRDF accounts for 0.6% of the Anglican national "gross national product". As a former Episcopalian in Montana, I learned ERD accounts for 0.5% of our "gross national product", and Episcopalians are not poor! Certainly, a people so well versed in militantly avoiding the gospel will never accomplish any more in their liturgies than a "flatline". Ya can't give what ya haven't got!

[@cliveso]

Dupré's music was never written with much rubato in mind, you mere mortals! Rather than milking it at every single opportunity, he reserved it for when he wanted it and only when he wanted it. By keeping rubato and other superfluous gestures to a minimum, it helps the listener focus more on the greater architecture of the music.

[@dehnerbootboy]

If you'd like another inspiration, go find the recordings of Cochereau at Notre Dame of this and most of the big organ works of Dupre! Formidable!! d. dehner