Search - Gaspard Corrette, French Anonymous, Yves-G. Prefontaine :: Gaspard Corrette: Messe du 8e ton pour l'orgue à l'usage des dames religieuses

Worship in splendor.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 06/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Organ enthusiasts must surely have discovered the many organ masses in the French repertoire. Composers such as Couperin, Boyvin, and de Grigny left notable examples, and there is one by Gaspard Corrette, recorded here in 2003 by Montreal-based organist Yves-G Préfontaine.Little is known of Gaspard Corrette, a slightly older contemporary of Bach. Where the latter's organ music is densely contrapuntal and not designed to exploit an organ's special effects and resources, this Corrette mass offers opportunities for solo stops, choirs, dialogues, tremolos, diapasons in some or all combinations. About 23 pieces comprise the mass. All are in major keys. Interposed appropriately, in this recording, are sections of plainchant as accords with traditions of performance. The organ used dates from 1699 and the venue is the church of St Martin of Seurre, Burgandy, France. Restored in the 1980s by Bernard Aubertin, it reminds me of some of the more famous Clicquot organs heard without background hum and carrying only a three-second resonance. I have collected any (or perhaps all) recordings of this mass over the years, and I recommend this one unreservedly."