J. Demessieux By Stephen Tarp

[acc 0]

.

[AJJ 0]

OK, so here we go: technically, both Patel and Tharp can safely be counted among the very few organists that are capable of playing all of Demessieux. But I do find Tharp to be the more sensitive musician of the two. I also prefer the Stahlhut/Jann organ in Dudelange, and of course St-Ouen, to the Jann organ in Waldsassen.

 

Tharp's version is also slightly “more complete”, since it contains an Andante (w/o opus number) composed in 1953. As a bonus, the Aeolus box also contains a 1949 recording of Demessieux' Poème for organ and orchestra, with herself playing at the Salle Pleyel in Paris (the organ at which she premiered her Études a few years earlier, and of which there did not exist a recording available on CD to this date, if I am not mistaken).

 

Too bad that neither Patel not Tharp have played Demessieux' transcription of Liszt's Funérailles (see here). Patel might have run out of space on his DVD, but Tharp (who gave us a stunning interpretation of this work in Tuesday's recital in Dudelange) has plenty of room left on the last CD of his box.

 

Anyway, I think you should definitely go for Tharp's box (and no, I'm not saying that just because I know Ulrich is listening into our discussion ). In my view, Patel does a more than decent job, but once you've got the Tharp, he does not strike me as adding anything significant to it, musically speaking.

 

Thanks!

 

A

[Jim Treloar 0]

Having only ordered the Aeolus CDs at the beginning of the week, I was amazed when it was delivered to me today, Friday, from Germany. Excellent service from your firm, Ulrich, and I now look forward to an interesting weekend listening to them all (and the de Maleingreau which I mentioned in my last post).

[Pierre Lauwers 0]

The thread I launched on the french forum about this recording

is just as living as this one !

Congratulations to Aeolus for having dared to market such a specialized

"product", but now that all the interested are informed in a fortnight

through the forums, I think the sales should be not that bad.

 

Pierre

[acc 0]

.

[handsoff 0]

Having only ordered the Aeolus CDs at the beginning of the week, I was amazed when it was delivered to me today, Friday, from Germany. Excellent service from your firm, Ulrich, and I now look forward to an interesting weekend listening to them all (and the de Maleingreau which I mentioned in my last post).

 

My copy arrived this morning - my thanks too, to Aeolus for the quick turnaround.

 

P