MarchandImpS101108TRIM.mpg

Marchand organ improvisation by Bent Sørensen, played at Søborg
Church organ (24 stops), Gribskov, Denmark.
The French composer and organist Louis Marchand, who lived around 1700, may well be the originator of the renowned modern French improvisation style. The contemporary newspaper Mercure described the long queues at his improvisation concerts in Paris, and the exceptional achievements in improvisation far beyond the ornamentation-type of improvisation known earlier. I have found what I believe is an improvisation memo sheet (misplaced among his unpublished cembalo works) and I am offering an improvisation based on this. Of course no record of his own improvisation is left, so I have used modern French improvisation techniques including departures from classical chords in 7-tone scale. I can be reached by email: boson at ruc.dk (Bent Sørensen).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• organ
• improvisation
• Louis
• Marchand
• Bent
• Sørensen
• Sorensen
• orgue
• orgel