The man who draws organ music - Tournemire & Tom Walker | Chiff Chat, Ep. 2

[@qdftown]

I remember when I was MC at the LO in the 1990s. You could tell when the Tournemire Competition was coming up, because Paddy Russell dished it up to us every Sunday.

[@jimbutler5485]

Ben, so terribly interesting. Thank you for helping this Protestant understand and appreciate the Mass, the music, and the gorgeous art. You are a very effective teacher. More, please!!!

[@bloorganist]

Thanks Jim. It's really difficult music to make sense of if the context isn't readily available, so I'm glad this helped somewhat!

[@jerrymartin79]

Just fantastic - this was a really engaging dive into a difficult subject, but in just 15 minutes I came away with an understanding of where this fascinating work of Tournemiere sits in the musical realm. Wonderful! Looking forward to Ep. 3!

[@bloorganist]

Cheers Jerry. Everyone ought to play more Tournemire! Glad you found it interesting!

[@tcharles2466]

Thanks so much, Ben, for introducing me to Charles Tournemire. I've recently discovered his Symphony Nº3, Op.43 "Moscow"(1913) - and am continuing to further research his music!

[@AdrianGunning]

A very inspirational video and talk. Thank you for taking the trouble to do this. For me the first notes I ever heard of L'Orgue Mystique were a huge light bulb moment. No explanation of the music seemed necessary. Life suddenly opened onto a new world. It was a world I shall now never be without. It is music from another sphere. Almost unworldly and unmistakably perfumed.

[@bloorganist]

Renewed thanks for letting me view your Walker drawings Adrian. Your feelings explained above are totally evident in your brilliant recordings! Thanks for your help and support!

[@conradjones6622]

Adrian - exactly the same for me, and it was your CD at Coventry Cathedral that opened my eyes to it all those years ago. I'm still playing it today! Thanks for adding a dimension to my musical life.

[@combineharvestersam]

I've just discovered these videos courtesy of the latest Organists' Review and I'm enjoying them immensely. Thank you.

[@tikhonbogomolets2740]

Hello Ben Bloor, Being an ardent admirer and performer of all of Tournemire's organ works, I too wish it was known to a wider audience. I have found that studying the Liturgical Year as written by Dom Prosper Gueranger and reflecting on the message does greatly set the context of what Tournemire set to music. Of course, Tom Walker's art work on L'Orgue Mystique is a great background visual medium to have exhibited whilst performing each Suite, of course with a careful explanation of each triptych. Kind regards...

[@thesecretorganist]

What a fantastic video - thanks Ben! I’m an absolute Tournemire obsessive (he’s second only to Bach in my personal organ pantheon) and I honestly believe that L’Orgue Mystique contains some of the greatest organ music that has yet been written. The more time I spend with it the more I’m simply blown away by the scope and ambition of his musical imagination. And as you mentioned, while some of it is incredibly virtuosic, a lot of it is very playable, even by relatively new and inexperienced organists. The slower offertorium and communion movements are a great place to start - the ‘Quasi lento’ from the 10th Sunday after Pentecost is a particular favourite of mine. As a final point, I’m not sure if you’ve ever read Tournemire’s memoirs, but they recently became available in English and they’re absolutely hilarious! He had (to put it mildly) some very forthright opinions about his contemporaries in the French organ world - they’re a really fascinating snapshot of their era (www.agohq.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Charles-Tournemire-Memoirs-ML-Langlais-good-1.pdf)

[@bloorganist]

Thanks! I'll certainly check out his memoirs which I've not read before. Apparently he had the capacity to be a right grumpy so-and-so...

[@thesecretorganist]

@@bloorganist a difficult man by all accounts, but what a composer!

[@conradjones6622]

I feel the same about Tournemire. I read the memoirs a while ago. and one of the things I remember from them was his dismissal of Messiaen's music, a sentiment I heartily agree with!

[@catrionaritchie6001]

That was really informative Ben. Thank you. Loved the 'audience'.

[@frpaddy]

That was absolutely wonderful, Ben. I love Tournemire. L’Orgue Mystique is a constant musical companion.

[@conradjones6622]

Same here!

[@organman77]

Your videos are wonderful and so informative. Thanks for all your work on these!!

[@francescorighini9303]

As a dilettante organist - who can barely play with his feet - for both the old and the new rite, I've inflicted quite a lot of Tournemire's music (butchered by my hands and feet and the Italian organs) upon the dreaded faithful. I do love it, and the small, easy pieces for harmonium or from the Méthode are very nice.

[@conradjones6622]

Ben was a bit dismissive of the shorter pieces in L'Orgue Mystique but actually some of them, especially the longer Offertoires, are musical gems.

[@conradjones6622]

I just can't understand why people find Tournemire difficult. The minute I heard a few bars of it on Radio 3 30 years ago I was hooked. Still listening to it today. I'm not an organist or a classical music buff (or a Catholic for that matter), but for me this music transcends its liturgical function. As far as I'm concerned, along with that of his pupil Jean Langlais who I love just as much, it is the only organ music worth listening to. I still play the first Tournemire CD I ever bought, back in the '80s, by Adrian Gunning, with artwork by Tom Walker, and it's still my favourite, although of course I have the Delvallee complete cycle which is invaluable. Anyway, thanks for posting. I hardly ever meet anyone who's heard of Tournemire, let alone appreciates him.

[@AdrianGunning]

I still play this wonderful music at all my recitals when the organ allows it. Ben I hope as you grow you will see more of the light and perform more of this fabulous music at the London Oratory. It works so well there!

[@yvesbrissette4074]

Thank you so much Ben. I am learning so much and happy to learn ! Yes I knew who was Charles Tournemire, but this was so interresting ! In Montreal, your video of this type ends up on the CIOC (Concours internationale Orgue) on Facebook ! Because it is so well done. You are more than an musician and artist.

[@bloorganist]

Thanks for your support Yves. Yes, I noticed it had made it onto the CIOC FB page- must have been a slow news day!

[@colinlapus2875]

"The Old Rite Mass is a beautiful thing" - Ben Bloor, 2022

[@bloorganist]

It can be...!

[@craigmcg7619]

Very interesting. Very clearly explained. Great sound and excellent editing. Many Thanks.

[@bloorganist]

Glad you liked it! Thanks!

[@franomilic]

Thank you very much for this information! I enjoyed the listening.

[@williambane4862]

Very informative. Thank you.

[@jtrevm]

Dear Ben; thank you. Your personality enables you - as always - for this. Striking stuff. I seem to know nothing but everything about this all in one go. It defines the organ?. So yes, in a way I am captured. btw, what can an afternoon do for any composer? And at the end of the day (not afternoon), my soul is at ease away from the concert hall. I agree with Mr Bax, though of course in these digital days I can add plenty to his list. Tournemire has my tick. Though it may take me ten years to appreciate / analyse the lot. Thank you also for the twinkle in the eye. I reckon a real performer can grasp the / his music with evidence in body and mind. In your case, the eyes have it. Aye.

[@Man-From-Another-Place]

Thanks, Ben and Adrian. My apologies, I’m unable to reply directly to comments. @benjaminbloor I agree; I particularly love the final section of the Triptyque. I’m also very fond of the 'Fantaisie-Choral' from the Cycle de Pâques and plan on learning it, though I get the impression it might be somewhat tricky in sections. @Adrian Gunning It seems ironic to me that the only Tournemire works which tend to feature in organists’ repertoire are the Improvisations, which I understand he didn’t want to be transcribed, whereas his written work ‘L’Orgue Mystique’ is unfairly neglected. Btw, I must admit to feeling more encouraged to play Tournemire’s music after having received replies from two organists whose interpretations of his music I very much admire!

[@hughmackay5200]

Inspirational.

[@timothytikker3834]

I used Tom Walker's image for Tournemire's Poème opus 59, no. 1 for the cover of my CD (Raven label).

[@timothytikker3834]

I had met Tom at the Saint Alban's Festival in 1989, where he gave his presentation of his Mystic Image project and had many of the images on display.

[@conradjones6622]

I'm still listening to that Raven recording of the 3 Poems.

[@alcyonecrucis]

Hilarious lol

[@Man-From-Another-Place]

Excellent video, Ben. I've also played that piece from the start of the video, 'Triptyque', and several other movements from L'Orgue Mystique. L'Orgue Mystique is some of my favourite organ music ever, but I sometimes wonder who I'm playing it for as it's somewhat niche even amongst organ enthusiasts. Am I being too jaded and cynical there or is there an audience for Tournemire's music?

[@AdrianGunning]

There is always an audience for everything in life

[@bloorganist]

The Triptyque is brilliant - like the text of the vespers hymn it's based on, it's a perfect musical sunset. I think L'orgue mystique in particular has limited audience appeal, but I suppose that's to be expected given Tournemire's intentions of writing music that is first and foremost for a higher purpose...

[@AdrianGunning]

I think it is partly education. How many organists are taught how to play Tournemire and L’Orgue Mystique? None as far as I know. It is something that needs exposure and explanation and thanks to Ben’s video this has helped.

[@mattbod]

I actually enjoy his music. I think it is heavily based on plainsong. I am only a hack organist but I found listening to him a personal acquired taste like Messiaen.

[@RobertOrgRobert]

His Pastorale is unique

[@user-nk5jb8dj1s]

Please, traduction in french. Merci de donner une traduction en français.

[@Goodchappy]

Hang on a minute, why shouldn't you do folk dancing? I was dragged up on it when I was little which is why I'm such a well rounded individual. You can go off people.....

[@nicholasfogg7964]

I must admit I've found it extremely difficult to like Tournemire's organ music!

[@langerly]

For the B flat, just use your nose...

[@timothytikker3834]

To put it kindly and gently, I would caution you against such a dismissive attitude towards any of Tournemire's music ("meandering," "doesn't get to the point"...). His music very much depends on the player's insight for its full effectiveness in performance. I speak from decades of experience: study with Tournemire's student Jean Langlais; study of Tournemire's historic recordings and those of his students; other more general study of Romantic performance practice; analysis of the compositions, which are certainly anything but formless, instead representing a most original extension and development of Franck's "choral" genre. I have had excellent audience response playing his music in concert, including selections from l'Orgue Mystique.

[@conradjones6622]

I agree, and let's not dismiss the "shorter" pieces in L'Orgue Mystique, especially the Offertoires and Communions, some of which are actually 5 minutes long if played correctly and are just as musically intense as the final pieces.