Jehan Alain - Les Fêtes de l'Année Israelite

[russedav5]

What a profound talent & especially soul. He's even eclipsed his own great teacher Dupré to become, despite his small oeuvres, a central figure in 20th century organ music. And not just French in view of the extreme paucity of 20th century German organ music. If I'm wrong someone please correct me, as I only know of Walcha, Distler & Hindemith, hardly in the same league as the French luminaries Alain & Messian especially, & Widor & Vierne & Dupré. Russ Davis russedav@frontier.com

[Synthnerd11]

I was fascinated when I first heard (and consequently performed) this piece many years ago. Apparently recorded straight to disc hence the low quality, but it kind of adds to the charm, and it's actually JA playing, so who cares?! It's still an excellent record of his improvisatory style where you can hear not just his own compositional stylings, but also his influences. Amongst Guilmant and Widor, I can also hear some Franck in this. Thanks for putting these images to it.

[4candles]

Very interesting! A great talent - you can hear the influence of Widor here I think... Such a pity he died so young!