ALKAN: 8 Petits Préludes, on Mustel harmonium

The "Petits Préludes sur les 8 gammes du Plain-Chant" (1859) by Charles-Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)--that is, Little Preludes in the eight modes of plain-chant. Performed by Michael Hendron on his 1887 Mustel harmonium, recorded 17 November 2009. Alkan did not specify organ registrations; I chose these pieces to display the "voices" available on the standard French harmonium.

The first Prélude uses the 16' (2) rank and the 16' treble Voix Celeste (the music played an octave higher than written); the second piece adds the 8' (1) rank, also played up an octave for a 8' and 4' effect. The third piece, "Tempo Giusto," uses (1) alone; the fourth piece, "Vivace," uses the Grand Jeu: ranks (1) (2) (3) and (4), that is, 8', 16', 4', and 8' all together. Yes those surprise bars of rest are in the score! The fifth Prélude, "Andante Quasi-Allegretto," is a little minuet with 8' (1) and 4' (3). The following "Lento" is pure Alkan, using both 8' ranks. I heard herald trumpets in Prélude #7, so used (1) (3) and (4) with the (O) forte shades open; the last piece, marked "Moderato" and "Mezza voce," uses the 8' (4) rank alone, softened by closing the Métaphone shades over that rank.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Charles-Valentin Alkan
• Mustel harmonium
• Michael Hendron

[4candles]

Great upload! I personally prefer the medium of the organ for these pieces, but it is interesting to hear them on a harmonium, an instrument which would have been very familiar to organists at the time. Many of the most famous organists of the time wrote pieces for harmonium.

Thanks!