Jeanne Demessieux – The Decca Legacy (FLAC)

Performer: Jeanne Demessieux
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: ELQ4841424
Release: 2021
Size: 1.87 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover

CD 01
Bach: Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
01. Toccata
02. Fugue

Mendelssohn: Sonata in A major, Op. 65 No. 3
03. I. Maestro

04. Clarke: Trumpet Tune

Widor: Symphony No. 5, Op. 42 No. 1
05. V. Toccata

06. Franck: Cantabile (Trois Pieces)
07. Franck: Pastorale, Op. 19 (Six Pieces)
08. Franck: Fantaisie (Trois Pieces)

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in D major, BWV 532
09. Prelude
10. Fugue

Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
11. Toccata
12. Fugue

CD 02
Bach: Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
01. Toccata
02. Adagio
03. Fugue

Bach: Praeludium and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543
04. Praeludium
05. Fugue

06. Bach: Chorale Prelude: Wenn wir in hochsten Noten sein, BWV 641
07. Bach: Chorale Prelude: Nun komm’ der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659
08. Bach: Chorale Prelude: Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, BWV 688
09. Bach: Fugue in G major (a la gigue), BWV 577

Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
10. Toccata
11. Fugue

Bach: Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542
12. Fantasia
13. Fugue

Bach: Concerto in A minor, BWV 593 (after Vivaldi)
14. Concerto in A minor, BWV 593 (after Vivaldi)
15. Concerto in A minor, BWV 593 (after Vivaldi)
16. Concerto in A minor, BWV 593 (after Vivaldi)

CD 03
Franck: Trois Chorals
01. Choral No. 1 in E major
02. Choral No. 2 in B minor
03. Choral No. 3 in A minor

Liszt: Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, as salutarem undam’
04. Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, as salutarem undam’
05. Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, as salutarem undam’
06. Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, as salutarem undam’

Widor: Symphonie gothique, Op. 70
07. IV. Variations

CD 04
Händel: Organ Concerto in Gf minor, Op. 4 No. 1, HWV 289
01. Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 4 No. 1, HWV 289
02. Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 4 No. 1, HWV 289
03. Organ Concerto in G minor, Op. 4 No. 1, HWV 289

Schütz: Organ Concerto in B f;at major, Op. 4 No. 2, HWV 290
04. Organ Concerto in B f;at major, Op. 4 No. 2, HWV 290
05. Organ Concerto in B f;at major, Op. 4 No. 2, HWV 290

06. Schütz: Eile mich, Gott, zu erretten, SWV 282
07. Bach: Bist du bei mir, BWV 508
08. Bach: Komm, suBer Tod, komm, selge Ruh’, BWV 478
09. Bach: Warum, betrufbst du dich, BWV 516

Liszt: Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H
10. Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H
11. Prelude and Fugue on B-A-C-H
12. Widor: Symphony No. 6, Op. 42 No. 2 – 1, Allegro
13. Mignan: Toccata medievale
14. Berveiller: Moumement
15. Demessieux: Te Deum, Op.11

CD 05
01. Bach: Chorale Prelude: O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sunde groB, BWV 622
02. Bach: Chorale Prelude: Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 684
03. Bach: Fantasia in G major, BWV 572
04. Bach: Sinfonia from Cantata No. 29, BWV 29 (transc, Dupre)
05. Bach: Chorale Prelude: Erbarm’ dich mein, O Herre Gott, BWV 721

Bach: Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540
06. Toccata
07. Fugue

Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in C minor, KV 546 / 426
08. Adagio
09. Fugue

Mozart: Fantasia in F minor, KV 608
10. Fantasia in F minor, KV 608
11. Fantasia in F minor, KV 608
12. Fantasia in F minor, KV 608

CD 06
Franck: Six Pieces
01. Fantasia, Op. 16
02. Grande piece symphonique, Op. 17
03. Grande piece symphonique, Op. 17
04. Grande piece symphonique, Op. 17
05. Prelude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18
06. Prelude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18
07. Prelude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18
08. Pastorale, Op. 19
09. Priere, Op. 20
10. Final, Op. 21

CD 07
01. Franck: Fantasie
02. Franck: Cantabile
03. Franck: Piece heroique

Franck: Trois Chorals
04. Choral No. 1 in E major
05. Choral No. 2 in B minor
06. Choral No. 3 in A minor

From her legendary debut through the succeeding years, Jeanne Demessieux brought virtuosity allied to intellect and sensitivity, and went on to become the glory of the French organ school. This 8-CD celebration of one of the instrument’s most spoken-of, yet enigmatic figures, brings together for the first time her complete Decca recordings and a previously unpublished BBC Radio broadcast, and is released to mark the centenary of her birth.

It includes Demessieux’s legendary Franck recordings; her recordings from St. Mark’s, North Audley Street, London, many released for the first time since the original 78s; little-known recordings of sacred songs with Demessieux accompanying the Belgian soprano, Suzanne Danco; and an improvisation on a submitted theme from the only extant BBC radio broadcast with Demessieux, which also includes Bach, Buxtehude, Widor and Messiaen.

All recordings have been carefully remastered by Mark Obert-Thorn and Chris Bernauer.

The accompanying booklet includes details of Demessieux’s unpublished recordings, rare photos and facsimiles of some of her programs, extensive notes, including details of some of the recording sessions; and notes on the instruments and full specifications for each of the five organs.

Demessieux’s relationship with Decca began in May 1947, just a year after her legendary Paris debut, and this collection of all her commercial recordings spans the whole of her public career. She was one of the first women to achieve stardom in the world of the organ – a dimly-lit, often cloistered demi-monde dominated by men throughout its history. Now, a hundred years after her birth, she remains one of the instrument’s most spoken-of, yet enigmatic, figures. Few organists have ever achieved such fame. In the middle of the twentieth century she was one of the world’s most famous instrumentalists, the undisputed doyenne of organists.

Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux was born in the provincial city of Montpellier on 13 February 1921 and in her all too brief life rose to become the glory of the French organ school. Virtuoso organist-composer-improviser hors de pair in the great French virtuoso tradition, after studies with Lazare Lévy, Léila Gousseau, Magda Tagliaferro and Noël Gallon, Demessieux became heir to the great French organ tradition imbibed from her ‘maître’ Marcel Dupré. As a performer, she was without equal; as an artist, she breathed life into the repertoire, and transfigured every piece she played, revealing works anew through her intellect, ingenuity and sensitivity. As a composer, she enlarged the technical possibilities and expanded the expressive dimensions of the organ literature. And as a teacher, her pupils included the remarkable names of Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, Louis Thiry and Pierre Labric. Poulenc, Messiaen and Langlais were among her most fervent admirers.

Demessieux’s life was one of both struggle and glory. Having fought – and for the most part, overcome – intransigent modes of thinking about gender, imbroglios in the highly-politicized organ world, and fragile health, Demessieux left us almost as suddenly as her radiance was revealed – her premature death seizing from us witness to any more of her transcendental visions. Yet wherever she played, ‘in all her most glorious triumphs Jeanne Demessieux never departed from the natural simplicity which gave her so much charm. The glory gave her an aura without affecting her. The international press, much more than in France, admired her without any reserve and discovered in her an exceptional person, who was already a legend in her own lifetime”, wrote her pupil Pierre Labric.