Duruflé - Trois Danses - Danse Lente

Copyright 1977 CBS Inc. I will remove this video immediately upon request from interested parties.

Though Maurice Duruflé's fame came primarily as a result of his masterwork, the Requiem, Op. 9, most of his life centered around his position as organist at St-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris. That he was an extreme perfectionist surprises no-one familiar with his work; he published very few compositions, even for his own instrument, but each one is a perfect expression of his genius. The Trois Danses is the first of his only two published works for orchestra. That he was able to compose a work of such exactitude and depth without preamble is evidence of his intense study of Debussy and Ravel, to whom the work obviously owes a great deal.

This video was made using sound from the LP listed below. The album is in fine condition, but I cleaned up a few pops and clicks with Audacity 1.2.6.

Durufle
Requiem
Danse Lente
New Philharmonia Orchestra
Andrew Davis, Conductor
Columbia M 34547
Copyright 1977 CBS Inc.

The images are as follows:
1. Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier (the composer's wife) and Maurice Duruflé. Mme. Duruflé was an outstanding organist in her own right; in fact, it was rumored she was more skilled than he was. He may have believed this as well, since he recorded only one of his own works for organ while she recorded the rest.
2. The façade of St-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris, built mostly during the 1500's. Duruflé was organist here for nearly 60 years.
3. The composer.
4. The composer playing at St-Étienne-du-Mont.
5. The most famous image of the composer.
6. A painting based on the famous image.
7. The interior of St-Étienne-du-Mont showing the famous double-spiralled choir screen. All other choir screens in Paris were destroyed as a result of the Revolution; perhaps this one was saved by its own beauty.
8. A detail of the choir screen.
9. Duruflé's organ. While it was not originally built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, he did give it a major overhaul in 1863 and 6 of its stops are still his. While Duruflé was in residence, Beuchet-Debierre electrified its traction and revised it further. In 1975, the same year Duruflé was in the car accident that forced him to give up playing forever, Gonzalez completely revoiced the instrument: thus, it will never sound again as it did under Duruflé.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Maurice
• Durufle
• Trois
• Danses
• Dances
• Danse
• Lente
• Orchestra

[russedav5]

I shudder to think all the great music his perfectionism drove him to destroy and am so grateful his wife took to hiding it for posterity to keep him from destroying the profound works of this genius who ironically didn't sufficiently appreciate his own great gifts from God..

[ms54302]

What marvelous music! Lush and lean at the same time, or as Ned Rorem says "sumptuous bones". I can hear the influence of Debussy, as well as Ravel. It also has the quality of intensity and classicism, like Fauré.

Yummy.