Marcel Dupré plays Carillon at St Sulpice

[TheTherese3]

My Dad said it best."There's the French and everybody else!"

[FromHolbergsTime]

A stunning recording and a great historical document of the great Marcel Dupre at the console of one the world's most fabulous instruments! The spaciousness of the interior acoustic framework at St Sulpice is simply breathtaking. From the Seven Pieces, Op. 27, both the Final and the Carillon were compositions of the 1930's, introduced not long after Dupre followed Charles-Marie Widor at St Sulpice. This is a magical environment to hear this fabulous piece, a great capture of the Cavaille-Coll

[TheTherese3]

French giants are common.easily spotted with binochulars,and good stereo systems.

[fabianus50]

Marcel Dupre - The Greatest Organist ever !

Thank you for posting this recording of the Master !

[hackblob]

Life affirming! Thank you!

[TheOrganKid]

Stunning

[TheTherese3]

The Epic Master makes it seem easy.

[classicallymusic]

does anyone have the sheet music for this?

[dulzian64]

The reverb at the end is amazing.

[DSM1G90]

When Dupre recorded this piece, they did it during the night and it was during the winter months so the recording procedure (by Wilma Cozart, her husband Robert Fine and others for Mercury) would be the cleanest possible without any interference from street noise and such. True though, Dupre, with the advanced age, the heaviness of the keys with a lot of the stops pulled, the coldness of the building, raised havoc with his hands during these recordings.

[chwidder]

@DSM1G90: Despite common belief to the contrary, the action at St-Sulpice is *not* heavy at all, and never has been. In particular, the weight is *independent* on the number of stops and couplers drawn: that's precisely what Barker machines are about.

The real reason behind Dupré's sometimes clumsy playing was the arthritis in his fingers, as hughesmr has already pointed out.

[hughesmr]

Dupre was 73 when he recorded this. He was beginning to suffer from severe arthritis in his hands at the time.

[mrMYSTERIUM]

INSANE! and truly great.please get in touch if anybody knows any pieces as powerful as this-can't wait

[eameece]

Also the Jongen Toccata in D-Flat, if you liked this one!

[FromHolbergsTime]

A thrilling performance from a recognized master of organ composition. I also like Michael Murray's fine version recorded at St. Sulpice, Paris. Murray also offers a striking performance at the console of the Aeolian-Skinner organ at Symphony Hall in Boston.

[bombarde1701]

The mixtures on the Michael Murray album are extremely high pitched...but also good.

[VermontOrganAcademy]

Thrilling!  Thank you for posting this.

[mathijs1987j]

I have to say, I'm not that fond of this interpretation. I love this piece, and the interpretation by Robert Delcamp (the only other interpretation that I know), but this version seems a bit crude, almost. Still, I look forward to Dupre's version of the Final.

[GJmusique]

how can anybody but the actual composer play it better?

[octavegeigen4]

INTERPRETATION?! This is the great Marcel Dupre playing his own work. It can't get any better than this.

[BeFrSc]

Indeed, this is not an interpretation, this is Dupré himself.

[27bibi27]

Marcel Dupré, vous nous manquez terriblement

[miauw777]

The best of the best! Everyone can make an interpretation, much appreached by everyone, but dupre is the real master, and why not? He wrote the peace thats why. The legacy of a great great heritage. His nowadays equal master is thierry escaich of st.etienne du mont.

[organum74]

I like Daniel Roth too, the present St Sulpice'organist, who recorded a CD with Preludes et Fugues of Dupré. Marcel Dupré was a great, great organist !!! What can we say else ?

[somethingjane8]

It is wonderful to hear this recording again. Dupré the improvasateur at the height of his game. This is a dark, powerful, rendering of of one of his finest compositions. He doesn't stick closely to the score, but who cares!! He wrote it!!

[miauw777]

the legacy of a great great tradition starting with cavaille-coll and cesar franck and widor.

Dupre is the greatest of them all!

[advisorC101]

The true power of a french organist!

[Capricornboy]

And how old was Dupre when he played this?

[advisorC101]

He was 73 years old.

[Capricornboy]

Thanks!

[Capricornboy]

...and just listen from 5:08 I heard NOBODY, really NOBODY play it like that! And quite honestly I didn't even cross my mind to play it like that, but again: IT IS BRILLIANTLY imitating an actual carillon.

[Capricornboy]

...and (continueing) off course there other great organcomposers who wrote these "Carillon" pieces also with bombastic affairs like Vierne or Mulet, or less bombastic but very charming like Sowerby, but what set THIS PIECE apart from them is that Dupre imitates in a very lifelike and realistic manner the tolling of bells. You can really hear various bells sounding cris-cross together, like they do when it's time to attend church (Viernes and Sowerby music exploit a single melody, Mulet chords.)

[Capricornboy]

....and even after hearing so much performances of this favorite piece of mine, THIS PERFORMANCE SCARES THE SHIT OUT OF ME! Dupre creates such a dark atmosphere!

[Capricornboy]

WOW!!! I totaly understand Dupre's intention! I have played it myself (horribly) and heared many many many performances of this pieces by diffrent organists. I noticed several things: Almost no organist who plays this can withold himself playing this too fast (except for Dupre). Also Dupre wrote it with a particualr registration in mind, perhaps so particular it can only be played on the Saint Sulpice organ to let the piece sound like it was meant: To REALLY imitate a carrilon!

[redletterchurch]

I love this music! But is it music which harmonizes with the Old Testament, The Life and Teachings of Jesus, or the New Testament? All of the above...or none of the above? Is this what vivaldi20081 hints at below? Sometimes it seems as though sacred art and music is it's own religion. If true...is this necessarily a bad thing? I lean toward art, music, nature, science, and the Teachings of Jesus. But don't follow me...I'm lost...and I maybe heading toward a cliff. Good luck!

[BayAreaBiker2001]

If you can't hear the 32' stops, it's because your speakers cannot reproduce frequencies down to 16 Hz. Such low frequencies are difficult for anything other than huge subwoofers to produce, although many headphones are capable of this. Also few microphones respond to frequencies below 50 Hz or so, the Earthworks TC-30 and QTC-50 among them. The QTC-50 has a frequency response 5-50000 Hz. The TC-30 is 9-30000 Hz.

[marsvltor2]

On stop clarity - listen to the companion video to this - that of the Cortege et Litanie. There is much, much more character to the S Sulice organ than now...

[simonsteam]

The people that think Daniel Roth never uses the 32ft bombarde obviously havent been to the St Sulpice.he uses it all the time when hes playing.Still roars its way down the nave.

[ds1868]

I'm sure he uses it simonstream. The point being made though rests with the fact that the 32' Bombarde on this old recording has more definition, compared to today post 1989-92 restoration. Do you not agree?

[ninotchka26]

THAT'S a bombarde!!!

[codeman2008]

Who in the world gave this video less than 5 stars?!?!?! It's the composer playing his own piece on one of the worlds greatest pipe organs! The nerve of some people, to give this 4 stars! Unbelievable!

[codeman2008]

The other day I heard an orchestral version of this piece... it did not do it justice!

[vivaldi20081]

In organ play Got music is Bach,Vivaldi,Haendel. This is not Got music Fuuuuu!

[johannuscro]

I don't understand this.

[Capricornboy]

vivaldi20081 you are an idiot.... a total baffoon!

[DesireeDeFete]

OHHH WEE! Now See you hit the spot lol.

This is a HARD piece. It's so nice to hear Dupre play his pieces. Everyone plays them too fast!

[ds1868]

Good sound quality! Is it me or does the 32' Contra Bombarde have more definition back then? Sounds a little bit more like the St Ouen reed, a compliment in itself. Thanks for posting JFS, look forward to more!

[JFSnail]

I have read that someone revoiced it during the last restoration!

[ds1868]

That would explain it then. The 1989 'clean' was considered a success I think, but the 32' reed now seems restrained - if Daniel Roth ever uses it at all!

[a55b47]

JF, I see you found the Forbidden Places pix of St. Sulpice. That bluish-tinted one of the full length of the nave is one of most spectacular photos I have ever seen of the interior of a church. I don't know how those guys got up into some of the places they photographed, but they obviously don't suffer from vertigo, do they?

[JFSnail]

Yes, stunning photographs, heaven knows how they took them, especially the ones out on the roof!

[a55b47]

JF, keep up the good work !! We francophile organ lovers salute you !!!