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Duruflé - Méditation


AJJ

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I recently came across and bought a posthumously published Méditation by Maurice Duruflé - it has hints of the Requiem and the Mass Cum Jubilo etc. - not difficult and really quite effective. Does anyone else play this and why does it not seem to appear in any recordings of the complete works - at least not in the ones I have come across anyway?

 

A

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I used to play it - then my copy went missing (probably during my move up from Bath to Kendal) and I haven't yet replaced it.

 

Very handy in services, and as a quiet interlude for recitals. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who wants an "easy" route into Durufle - along with the Soissons Fugue it is as straightforward and undemanding as his organ writing gets.

 

According to the preface, both M. and Mme. Durufle used it in their own recitals. The first of its two themes is exactly like the opening of the "Agnus Dei" from his Messe Cum Jubilo (as pointed out by AJJ) although I'm not sure which came first...

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I recently came across and bought a posthumously published Méditation by Maurice Duruflé - it has hints of the Requiem and the Mass Cum Jubilo etc. - not difficult and really quite effective. Does anyone else play this and why does it not seem to appear in any recordings of the complete works - at least not in the ones I have come across anyway?

 

A

 

I've played it - very effective. There's also the little Chant Donné which has been mentioned on this board. (Though I only have a scan and not a legal copy. Is it published? I haven't checked.)

 

SB

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The Méditation is in a different league from the Chant donné as far as I am concerned. It would seem the CD is a bit of an academic exercise - to me at least it sounds rather like one!

 

A

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The Méditation is in a different league from the Chant donné as far as I am concerned. It would seem the CD is a bit of an academic exercise - to me at least it sounds rather like one!

 

A

 

Oh, of course, but actually the Chant Donné doesn't sound academic at all to me - unmistakeably Duruflé. A little chip from the master's workbench. I only have a scanned copy - what publication does it come from? Is it an organ/harmonium collection? (I know it wasn't written as a keyboard piece.) Presumably Duruflé approved its publication

 

I see Wikipedia lists the following unpublished organ pieces. Does anyone know anything about them?

Lecture à vue

Fugue

Lux aeterna

 

S

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I have a feeling that the Chant Donné might have been printed in The American Organist at some point - my copy also is a 'copy' though I can't remember where it came from. I've just ordered Duruflé - The Man and His Music from Amazon to read in France over Easter - maybe there is something in there about the other pieces mentioned above.

 

A

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I think that Chant Donne was an academic exercise - It might have been a four part harmonisation (open score) exercise that was found in his documents if i remember correctly.

 

There is also a second fugue that has recently surfaced (legally available for free on the net) which is a nice piece for completists.

 

Neither of these have been published for fee legally as far as i know.

 

I wonder what else might yet turn up

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I think that Chant Donne was an academic exercise - It might have been a four part harmonisation (open score) exercise that was found in his documents if i remember correctly.

 

There is also a second fugue that has recently surfaced (legally available for free on the net) which is a nice piece for completists.

 

Neither of these have been published for fee legally as far as i know.

 

I wonder what else might yet turn up

 

Where is the fugue to be found?

 

The Chant Donné has been discussed before and was said then to be an exercise in open score format but I presume it has been published since it's a printed copy that I have a scan of. Do we know if Duruflé approved its publication and, if so, as an organ piece? Since he dedicated it to someone (whose name I can't remember at the moment) he must have regarded it as more than simply an exercise.

 

SB

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Thats the fugue - it also exists in an 'organ' arrangement.

 

www.birolius.com is the address I got it from. It's arranged by Michael Ferguson.

 

Incidentally, all of the pieces mentioned in this thread are on the Durufle CD on Harmonia mundi that was released towards the end of last year (Main work the Requiem) featuring the Choir of Magdalen college.

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According to the preface, both M. and Mme. Durufle used it in their own recitals. The first of its two themes is exactly like the opening of the "Agnus Dei" from his Messe Cum Jubilo (as pointed out by AJJ) although I'm not sure which came first...

 

'Listened to the above Agnus Dei in the car today - 'really nice and chunks of the Meditation all over the place too.

A

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