Susan Ferré
Recordings
Hommage à Jean Langlais,
aux grandes organes de Ste. Clotilde
Jean Langlais improvising with David Ferré assisting
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Track List
**Jean Langlais Notes
For this limited edition of the original recording dating from the Fall of 1969 at Ste. Clotilde in Paris, we have chosen to begin the CD version with the student's playing, ending with the Master's improvisations. During the recording, which took place one night between 7:30 and 9:30 PM, as time was quite limited, we recorded only one take of each piece. No edits were made. As we had no time at the organ to prepare for the evening, Langlais helped me by choosing all the stops, pushing pistons as I was playing, pounding on my shoulder with tempo "suggestions," and sometimes competing with me for the Swell pedal. These are the various clunks and extraneous sounds one hears clearly on the original tape, now deteriorating from the ravages of time. One can also hear the occasional car motor passing through the quiet neighborhood. Instead of trying to improve the recording, we have chosen to document exactly that which was reproduced from the 1969 Ampex recording. We hope that its value lies in its freshness as a document, in spite of its fragility and imperfections. |
Preludes & Postludes,
for the year beginning 9-11-2001
Also Available on:
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Track List
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Stories From The Human Village,
War & Peace
Combines original narrative and music to take the listener on a journey through human experience over 400 years of history.
Also Available on:
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Track List
** Carl Ferré-Lang winding the "Bird" stop (Pajarito) |
Notes
"All pieces of music tell stories. They evolve from a variety of historical and cultural settings. At the very least they describe the stories of their own creation. Some are composed with the intention of setting a mood or creating a certain impression; some are not. This program contains pieces of both genres, put here in a larger context-- an entertaining journey through the history of organ music. It is a story which expresses a yearning for peace.
The narrative involves a mythical place called Europa, a global village which keeps going to war. Eventually, exhausting all reasons for warring, its people conclude that peace must be earned. The story alludes to history, though nothing depicted is purely historical. The story-line both informs and creates a context for the various pieces, all perfectly delightful in and of themselves, now enhanced by their new placement within ideas quite relevant to our current lives. Do these pieces need the story to be effective? Certainly not. Can they speak to modern ears, with new meaning? Yes, absolutely.
Thanks are due to the Episcopal School of Dallas, Father Stephen Swann, Headmaster, Joseph Snyder, Choirmaster and Organist, and Fritz Noack, organ builder, for their kind support of this project, as well as to Charles S. Brown, Craig Ferguson, and Miryam Hammond for their stories and inspiration." -Susan Ferré
The organ heard in this recording is located at the Episcopal School of Dallas, All Saints Chapel, constructed in 2002. The organ project, with Susan Ferré as consultant, was planned in conjunction with the new chapel space, in which the surface materials and high ceilings were designed to enhance musical performance through reverberation time of approximately five seconds. The organ, Opus 141, built and installed by Fritz Noack and Co. in 2002, consists of 27 stops operated by mechanical key action on two manuals and pedal.
The "Bird" stop was borrowed from a Regal built by Susan Tattershall.
"All pieces of music tell stories. They evolve from a variety of historical and cultural settings. At the very least they describe the stories of their own creation. Some are composed with the intention of setting a mood or creating a certain impression; some are not. This program contains pieces of both genres, put here in a larger context-- an entertaining journey through the history of organ music. It is a story which expresses a yearning for peace.
The narrative involves a mythical place called Europa, a global village which keeps going to war. Eventually, exhausting all reasons for warring, its people conclude that peace must be earned. The story alludes to history, though nothing depicted is purely historical. The story-line both informs and creates a context for the various pieces, all perfectly delightful in and of themselves, now enhanced by their new placement within ideas quite relevant to our current lives. Do these pieces need the story to be effective? Certainly not. Can they speak to modern ears, with new meaning? Yes, absolutely.
Thanks are due to the Episcopal School of Dallas, Father Stephen Swann, Headmaster, Joseph Snyder, Choirmaster and Organist, and Fritz Noack, organ builder, for their kind support of this project, as well as to Charles S. Brown, Craig Ferguson, and Miryam Hammond for their stories and inspiration." -Susan Ferré
The organ heard in this recording is located at the Episcopal School of Dallas, All Saints Chapel, constructed in 2002. The organ project, with Susan Ferré as consultant, was planned in conjunction with the new chapel space, in which the surface materials and high ceilings were designed to enhance musical performance through reverberation time of approximately five seconds. The organ, Opus 141, built and installed by Fritz Noack and Co. in 2002, consists of 27 stops operated by mechanical key action on two manuals and pedal.
The "Bird" stop was borrowed from a Regal built by Susan Tattershall.
