XAVER VARNUS PLAYS THE NOEL VARIATIONS BY LOUIS-CLAUDE DAQUIN

[ulfnorberg]

Wonderful! The best interpretation of this piece on youtube!

[aernyes]

We are all visiting such sites to enjoy the beauty of music. Some have come here with bottles of vitriol; a bunch of self-righteous' know-alls'. You guys ruin our joy of music. You make my visit here unpleasant and are doing me and others a great disservice.

Xavier is offering his rendering of this Daquin piece. Accept it instead of being a relentless iconoclast.

Andrew Ernyes, Calgary, Canada

[fcouperin]

congratz, it could go hardly any wronger ; ). about "message being more important than medium", read some Saussure and think again.

[cliveso]

@Regor2010 Well, no. I hate Mr Varnus' interpretation with passion, and I endeavour to attack it relentlessly. If he played it like that to Louis XV he would be executed. It is a disgrace to French music and especially to the Hungarian music scene, which I hold in high regard.

[cliveso]

@Regor2010 I offer you an "interpretation" of me sitting on the keyboard with my arse, and two monkey registrants messing with the stops... Okay, that's much exaggerated, but there is a point when something ceases to be part of an "interpretation" and becomes a "fault". Poor dynamic balance, for example, is plain unacceptable.

[AeolianSkinner1983]

Yeah who cares What "Cliveso" thinks. I play this piece the same way! I love the fact that you use the 32' stops! It makes for a better ending! Again 5 Stars from me!!

[apietrini]

Authentique ou non, aucune importance, Ici, c'est juste laid et de mauvais goût...

[mike928pa]

One of the world's greatest organists said something like "the Purists talk about it, but can't do it!" Technically correct or not... my ears enjoyed it. And that's what counts for me. BRAVO

[daviddifiore]

hmmmm Who cares if it is "authentic"?? He communicates which is much more important...it is just fun music music so why make it a lesson in performance practice ? If I want to listen to a book play I'll go the library ...he has color, communication and chops .. characteristics that are sadly lacking in many organ recitals...congrats!

[Hauptwerkgek]

It's great! I don't give a .... about the fact if it is authentic or not, this is

very well performed in my opinion!

[padreatti]

nem tudom miert blamaljatok Varnuszt

oda kell ulni es jobban megtanulni!!!!

VARNUSZ AKKOR IS PROFI!!!!

ES AZ IS MARAD!

[pipeup1]

How ignorant to cough on the last few bars! he should be hung from the horizontal trumpet!! Wonderful stuff :-)

[TrackerAction]

16' reed in the pedal?!? Yikes. And, I know all of you are going to yell at me, but if Daquin called for a cornet recit, why not use it?!

[INLOVEOFBACH]

Je ne connaissais pas cet organiste dans ce répertoire Il me paraissait surtout spécialisé dans la littérature romantique pour orgue et l'improvisaiton Il est excellent Le tempo est parfait ses variations suont claires et parfaitement registrées Je suis enchanté

[willowthebored]

I like it! Very well measured, the tempo is kept very well. I can't find anything technically wrong with the performance, (though I suppose that's to be expected of a proffessional such as Mr. Varnus), and the piece itself is a marvelous composition. All I'll say is that the Chamade is just a tad obnoxious; Latry uses a better reed selection on this same instrument in a different noel variation floating somewhere around here. Also, cameraman, screw the audience, I'm watching his technique...

[Jaanip]

Ei tämä nyt niin kauheasti vakuuta. Mies soittaa nopeasti, mutta pinnallisesti. Itäeurooppalainen mahtipontisuus pääsee aivan liikaa esille hyvän maun kustannuksella. Vielä on tällä soittajalla opittavaa.

[Principal16]

Justiinsa. Ettei olis taas tota Suomalaista ÄRSYTTÄVÄÄ konservatiivisuutta et kytätään pienintäkin virhettä!!!! VIELÄ ON SUOMEN URKUMAAILMALLA PALJON OPITTAVAA!!!

[Musicoholist]

Oikein! Suomalaiset ovat seuranneet urkuasioissa saksalaisia oikeastaan aina. Tällä hetkellä tuntuu että pelin henki on kummassakin maassa jokseenkin sama; musiikillinen koulutus on todella teoreettista ja soittajat koulutetaan toimimaan työssään enemmän metronomin kuin taiteilijan tavoin... =( Onneksi sekä Suomesta että Saksasta löytyy myös kohtuullinen rivi erittäin hienoja muusikkoja ja itsenäisiä taiteilijoita!

[Jaanip]

Pitää paikkansa, että Suomen urkumaailmalla on paljon opittavaa, mutta ei se tee tätä elostelijaurkuria yhtään paremmaksi. Tämä Varnus ei ole ensimmäinen unkarilainen urkunisti, joka yrittää esiintyä taitavampana kuin taidot sallivat. Kuka näistä älyttömän nopeista kuvioista ja muusta mahtailusta (sirkkelisointinen ff pp:n päälle ja muuta hauskaa) nauttii? En ainakaan minä, vaan arvostan luontevaa ja ehjää esitystapaa. Senkin jotkut onneksi hallitsevat, myös Suomessa.

[Jaanip]

Das ist meiner Meinung nach nicht so lobenswert gespielt. Schnell spielen heisst nicht unbedingt gut spielen. Ausserdem hören sich einige Takte unpräzise wegen der zu schnellen Spielart an. Ich würde sagen, dass ein gewisses, für das alte Osteuropa typisches, zu gewagtes Pathos oder Schwulst auf Kosten des guten Geschmacks hier hervortritt.

[ARFRC1]

Bravo!

On Behalf of the American Guild of Organists, thanks for this post.

In regards to the way you played, you reminded me of someone that I knew, my late Father, whom was a Former President of the National Council for the AGO.

When my Father was at our church dedicating the new organ, my Father announced he would play this piece as you did, but allowing the people to hear most, if not all, the features of the organ.

Keep up the good work.

[Principal16]

Emmä ny ihan noin hyvin osaa soittaa tota mut aika samallalailla,ja olishan se kivan päästä MUPAan soittelemaan! :-)

[cliveso]

Go and learn about French registration, clown.

[xavervarnus]

Go and try to be free during your interpretation. This is not to say that attempts at an "authentic" performance should be discouraged. Far from it. But it does indicate that the Message is more important than the Medium.

[cliveso]

The problem I see is that your rendition is not coherent. Sometimes it was authentic, sometimes it's not. Playing a duo on mixture is like playing one of the variations on the piano, for instance. As far as taste is concerned, I think one either has to be authentic or radically different. Anything in between yields unsatisfactory results.

[xavervarnus]

My only concern is music, rather than stupid theories. Authenticity is a favorable hiding place of mediocrity.

[Rankett16]

I'm on Xaver's side. No one loves authentically rendered French Baroque than myself, but it would have been impossible on this organ, this acoustic, and it would have been lost on this audience, no offense intended. About all one can hope to do in these circumstances is entertain with good music, however much the theorists will sniff.

[chamade16]

HERE HERE!

[tbman1943]

@xavervarnus Gee whiz, this sounds like the Biggs - fox war of the late 70's, :D - LOL. However, I agree with you about the mediocrity part :)

[Principal16]

cliveso,try to play this piece well as he can,CLOWN!!!

[cliveso]

Mr Varnus:- I hope what you did was truly what you felt, not because of lack of knowledge or for the sake of doing something different. Authenticity is a good starting point for further personal interpretation, but good taste and balance must be present all the time. For example, at 3:57 the difference between Grands Jeux and Petits Jeux was too big. Trompettes could be added (not authentic, but necessary) to counter-balance the chamades. I agree, people who only blindly follow rules are dead.

[waihoong11]

Let's be gracious here. Like it? Take it. Don't like it? Leave it.

[willowthebored]

@cliveso

Hun, these are Noel Variations. There are no rules. The whole point is to make them your own. Screw French registration, I would hardly call that a French organ. The authentic-only attitude is no better than a Bach-only attitude.

[cliveso]

@willowthebored Precisely. The authentic-only attitude is wrong, and advocates of such attitude should never play Bach on a Harrison, for example. I feel, however, that it is essential that one preserves the original colour and the spirit, always maintaining balance across the voices and listening critically with good taste. Varnus managed to preserve the spirit, but all the rest was a failure.

[cliveso]

@willowthebored Or of course, one can also do something radically different, interpreting the piece as if one composed it (the Jean Guillou approach). Personally I think this approach is even more difficult, but Guillou totally aces it.

The point is: staying somewhere between authentic and radical always yields unsatisfactory results.

[Principal16]

Köszönöm,Xaver!!!!!

[petrof4056]

i don't think that it is a pipe organ.

great! bravo!

[octavegeigen4]

Do you not see the chamades?! Of course this is a pipe organ!

[waihoong11]

It is.

[Guilloufan]

marvellous, pipe organ ??