J.S. Bach's 1722 work, The Well-tempered Clavier, introduced a new tuning method allowing all 24 major and minor keys to be used identically, inspiring many subsequent collections of 24 pieces.
Composer Biography
Louis Vierne, a student of Franck and Widor, was the organist at the great Cavaillé-Coll organ of Notre-Dame de Paris, which profoundly influenced his compositional style.
Album & Artwork
This album's program is guided by the number 24, a significant number in music history since J.S. Bach, and the suitability of the St-Etienne organ in Mulhouse for the featured composers.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The composers featured on this album, Louis Vierne, André Fleury, and Gaston Litaize, all shared a love for harmonic progressions, which they considered the 'spice' of music.
Composer Biography
Gaston Litaize, a friend of Louis Vierne and student of Marcel Dupré, was attracted to the music of Debussy, Ravel, and Fauré, and significantly evolved the organ's language alongside his contemporaries.
Instruments
The organ used for this recording was originally built in 1863 by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, a brilliant Parisian organ builder, and was later expanded in 1963 by Max Roethinger and Jean Danielot.
Interpretation
Playing the works of Vierne, Fleury, and Litaize on this specific Cavaillé-Coll-Roethinger organ is a joy due to its wide range of timbres, which can evoke various moods and colors.
