Paris Pipe Organ: Vierne @ Invalides

Most people think of Invalides as Napoleon's Tomb. But there was a church there over 150 years before the mausoleum was tacked on. It was the chapel for the Old Soldiers' Home (Invalides), & it's generally known among Parisians as the Soldiers' Church. It also seems to be popular for the weddings of Parisian bluebloods. I've visited the place several times, & invariably there's someone getting hitched -- generally attended by men in very nice suits & women with very large hats. I've always been partial to Virgil Fox's interpretation of this Vierne Scherzo; I had my Organ Epiphany hearing his recording of it. But he played it lickety-split, with lots of manual changes (pure Virgil, of course). This performance, by Pierre Gazin, is much more elegant. The instrument dates from 1636, with several revisions to its current incarnation of 3 manuals, 64 stops & 89 ranks. A superb instrument in a superb acoustical environment.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• pipe
• organ
• orgue
• orgel
• organo
• Vierne
• Scherzo
• Paris
• Invalides

[skyler6290]

Beautifully done.

[IDFAFrans]

Hear hear,....A lot of things as well depend on the acoustics where you play,...that is also what every one of the great composers of the era say,....so,...use the metronome to learn how to play exact,.....and then forget about it.

Vierne ones said: "good musicians know the principal "elastic"...when to tighten, or to release the tempo.

Only few have it by nature, and the rest won't ever really learn it!"

[omahas9000]

a55b47...another great one! Thanks so much. Would we have ever heard these without you?

[kathywilliams76]

Vierneguy, I love the quote. I too believe there is much humor and joy in music, and have had my audience chuckle on more than one occasion :)

[eameece]

Indeed, you should hear Vierne play Bach's E minor S.533 at spacious Notre Dame, here on You Tube; really slow!

[Vierneguy]

To Joachim Essig: You are entitled to your opinion. I have studied with Andre Fleury, and He studied with Louis Vierne. In fact, I was in the organ loft of Les Invalides while he practiced for a recital. I think Fleury would find it quite musical, even if not quite as animated as the tempo of 144=quarter. There is a quote from Vierne that he said about his scherzo's: "It isn't that you take the metronome marking exactly, but that you make your audience chuckle, that counts." I know Gazin.

[monoamiga]

Maybe it's not 144, but it still has its mirthful and gladsome overtone. Very nice!

[JoachimEssig]

The composer Louis Vierne asks for a tempo of note value of fourth with 144. The organ player Pierre Gazin achieves only 112. Even the manual changes, demanded by Louis Vierne make it difficult to achieve his metronome statement. I think, the interpretation is not really elegant, but very slow and has not the humour of a real scherzo.