Ben Van Oosten's
latest release in his ongoing Dupré cycle, finds him in Princeton,
New Jersey. Van Oosten has again selected cleverly an organ
associated with Dupré; in this instance Dupré was involved in
the design of the 1928 100-stop Skinner. Later alterations by
the Aeolian Skinner company were partially reversed in the restoration
of 1990-91 by Manders of London. It sounds truly magnificent
here, matching Dupré's later compositions aesthetically very
well. It is worth remembering that although Dupré remained organist
at St Sulpice until his death, and, unlike his colleague and
former pupil Cochereau at Notre Dame, preserved the 1862 Cavaille-Coll
as conceived by its builder, much of his time was spent touring
in the US. His later compositions reflect the contemporary Anglo-American
organ building style.
The Princeton organ
is captured very well; the listener is always aware of the room
as well as the instrument. Ben van Oosten is as stupendous,
as always. Phenomenal control, technique, never playing
too fast, amazing feeling for line, astonishing use of the instrument
- such elements always characterise his playing and this is
no exception. Van Oosten is, quite simply, the greatest interpreter
of the French symphonic school alive today.
Why then do I find
it so hard to warm to this disc? The reason I'm afraid is the
music. The too earliest works, the Poème Héroïque, and the Angelus
(dating from the 1930s) are both attractive, the Poème Héroïque
particularly dramatic, but the remainder, and especially the
two larger works are inaccessible, in the case of Vision, very
formless, and almost self-indulgent. In Memoriam op. 61, written
in memory of his daughter, has never had the popularity that
one would expect of the last large organ work of a figure as
important as Dupré. The reason is quite simple, Dupré never
finds the inspiration of the earlier Symphonie Passion, the
op. 7 Preludes and Fugues, the concise Deuxième Symphonie, the
op. 36 A-flat major Prelude and Fugue or the Variations sur
un vieux Noël. Here one is much more aware of Dupré the improviser,
notating ideas but somehow lacking the panache of the earlier
creations.
For collectors looking
for a complete Dupré cycle, this is undoubtedly the one to have,
Van Oosten's insightful playing and his choice of instruments
putting it far ahead of the variable Naxos releases, and Jeremy
Filsell's cycle on Guild, typically brilliant, but as so often
with him, let down by use of a single organ of limited appeal.
Chris
Bragg
