J. Demessieux By Stephen Tarp

[Pierre Lauwers]

Here is something for Christmas:

 

http://www.aeolus-music.com/ae_en/all_disc...ete_organ_works

 

The complete organ works of Jeanne Demessieux, I think it is a premiere.

Note the choice of the instruments; besides St-Ouen, which Mrs Demessieux

liked and often played, St-Martin Düdelingen/ Dudelange (Stahlhuth-Jann)

is a splendid example of a genuine post-romantic organ, complete with

electro-pneumatic action, sliderless chests, soft mutations, grave mixtures,

multicultural influencies (here french, german and british). There is even

a Tuba and a complete string jeu de Tierce.

Mandatory!

 

Pierre

[pcnd5584]

Here is something for Christmas:

 

http://www.aeolus-music.com/ae_en/all_disc...ete_organ_works

 

The complete organ works of Jeanne Demessieux, I think it is a premiere.

Note the choice of the instruments; besides St-Ouen, which Mrs Demessieux

liked and often played, St-Martin Düdelingen/ Dudelange (Stahlhuth-Jann)

is a splendid example of a genuine post-romantic organ, complete with

electro-pneumatic action, sliderless chests, soft mutations, grave mixtures,

multicultural influencies (here french, german and british). There is even

a Tuba and a complete string jeu de Tierce.

Mandatory!

 

Pierre

 

Further details of the instrument can be found here, although I can locate only a password-protected link to the specification.

[heva]

Not quite a premiere, as Pierre Labric recorded a 'complete' in the 1970's, see here.

[Pierre Lauwers]

See here the Specification of Dudelange:

 

 

http://www.orgue-dudelange.lu/Pages/Orgue/...,1,0,0,0,1'

 

Pierre

[Jim Treloar]

I find that no one in the UK deals with Aeolus. Priory used to be the agent but for some reason no longer. Has anyone got any suggestions other than going to Aeolus direct? This CD looks good as do many others on that label

[acc]

.

[AJJ]

So what do people think then - I was going to get this - should it be the Tharp CD instead?

 

AJJ

[pcnd5584]

See here the Specification of Dudelange:

 

 

http://www.orgue-dudelange.lu/Pages/Orgue/...,1,0,0,0,1'

 

Pierre

Ah - thank you, Pierre.

[acc]

.

[AJJ]

Since I've already got Patel's DVD, I'll be able to answer that question next Wednesday.

 

'Look forward to hearing what you think.

 

A

[wolsey]

I will also be following this thread closely as I'm interested to find out whether to by the Tharp CD or the Patel DVD. The Tharp has been a long time coming though; I remember reading about his then projected Demessieux disc over two years ago.

[giwro]

I will also be following this thread closely as I'm interested to find out whether to by the Tharp CD or the Patel DVD. The Tharp has been a long time coming though; I remember reading about his then projected Demessieux disc over two years ago.

 

 

I had the pleasure of hearing Steven Tharp in concert this summer at the American Guild of Organists convention - he certainly has the technique and temperament to play this music... He played one Demessieux piece at the concert (the Nativite, IIRC).

 

I would prefer the Tharp recording if for no other reason than part of it is a t St.-Ouen.... I could listen to that organ over and over and never tire of it.

 

Cheers,

 

- G

[handsoff]

I have ordered the Tharp CDs directly from Aeolus (who incidentally accept PayPal) - these will fill my available shelf space....**

 

I do wish companies wouldn't issue high quality organ DVDs. Our TV is about 20 years old and I really don't want to buy a new one given its almost total lack of use, nor do I want to buy a super-duper surround sound home cinema system with a huge sub-woofer to do benefit to these DVDs (and presumably my few SACDs too).

 

Actually that's not quite true - but Mrs Handsoff can be so stubborn (**)

 

Thanks to Pierre for pointing this out to us and for the specification.

[Pierre Lauwers]

"super-duper surround sound home cinema system"

(Quote)

 

I never heard as bad a system as those for the music. Just good

for "Jurassic Park" effects! I stick to my old system with just two

excellent Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers, electrostatic earphones

and NAD amplifier.

 

Pierre

[handsoff]

"super-duper surround sound home cinema system"

(Quote)

 

I never heard as bad a system as those for the music. Just good

for "Jurassic Park" effects! I stick to my old system with just two

excellent Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers, electrostatic earphones

and NAD amplifier.

 

Pierre

 

Ah, thank you Pierre. That's cheered me up - I too have a NAD amplifier for my main system, but coupled to large Wharfedales which are older than the TV!

 

Peter

[acc]

.

[pwhodges]

don't these home theatre systems come in different levels of quality, just like everything else?

Of course, and the starting point is pretty low - for starters, just look at the size of the plastic speakers on their beanstalks!

 

Paul

[Pierre Lauwers]

The only genuine "surround effect" the organ knows is the Fernwerk.

Otherwise, do we need the organ to be cut into two parts in order

to sit in the middle?

And do our Ego really need to have the impression our seat is just in the

middle of the orchestra ?

 

All we need is a correct -as far of possible- rendition of the tones, and a fair

frequency range (for the organ if possible from 20 Herz, but 50 is already

good, especially in little rooms). The rest matters only for electrically amplified

music.

(I do not even have a TV set!)

 

Pierre

[acc]

.

[Pierre Lauwers]

The natural reverberation is already taken, if the microphones

are correctly placed. There is no necessity to add more.

(We could even add a Tremolo effect as well...

 

With the ego I mean the guy who feels as if he were in the middle of the orchestra.

 

I do not think real "organ people" are good customers for expansive Hi-Fi "brol"

(a belgian word for useless piles of bits).

 

Pierre

[acc]

.

[pwhodges]

Certainly they did. But of course, even "surround" is still very incomplete; there are three dimensions - and those who have experienced it generally feel that reproducing sound in three dimensions is a bigger step in realism than going to mere surround in two. All my recordings these days are made in three dimensions, from which I extract stereo and surround signals for use in the meagre setups that I and most people have available.

 

I could say a lot more, but it's getting off-topic.

 

Paul

[acc]

.

[Jim Treloar]

Thanks to all for an interesting thread. After all the comments I've ordered direct from Aeolus, I see it's already appeared on my credit card, so fingers crossed they arrive. In the same order I've included the two volumes of de Maleingreu which are listed, I have an old Vista LP of one of his symphonies played by Caleb Jarvis which I like very much but have never heard anything else written by him. I'd welcome any comments about his music, a composer who seems neglected.

[Ulrich]

Hello,

 

I'd like to join the discussion about surround vs. stereo, which occurs in this thread.

 

I'm also a producer/engineer at AEOLUS, like Christoph. We experience that the surround recordings are able to capture much more detail in terms of natural sound colours as well as three-dimensional sound stage/image. As we always aim to capture this in the best possible way (also in stereo - of course!) it should be obvious that we are very happy that surround sound provides much more potential here. You don't need to record a three-dimensional performance ("Fernwerk") in order to benefit from this technique, it's better for all sound sources. However, as we are discussing organ music here: An organ in a reverberant church comes close to a three-dimensional perfomance, and to record this in stereo is always a challenge...

 

But the bottom line is: 5.1 / 5.0 surround just sounds better in every respect (provided the recording has been done carefully, which should always be the case, regardless it's stereo or surround...).

 

@Paul: I don't see a consistent user-community for commercial three-dimensional recordings in the way of 2+2+2 (or similar). So I think this part of the discussion is not so interesting for record labels.

 

Regards,

Ulrich