Entitled ‘L’improvisateur extraordinaire’, this disc ought to be sub-headed ‘Jeremy Filsell – transcripteur extraordinaire’, for Filsell is one of a select band (David Briggs being another) who can unravel the textural complexities of recorded organ improvisations, put them onto paper and then replay them. The programme presented here represents a prodigious labour of love.
We are fortunate that the French organist Pierre Cochereau (1924-84) was at the peak of his creative powers at a time when tape recorders were becoming widely available. In 1955 he was appointed organiste titulaire at Notre-Dame, Paris and he agreed to the establishment of a permanent recording system in the cathedral. As a result every liturgical and concert improvisation was preserved for posterity, a blessing since he committed comparatively little to paper.
The recital opens with La Marseillaise as performed at De Gaulle’s funeral in 1970, followed by a meandering slow Sortie improvisee on the same theme from a Mass attended by President Giscard d’Estaing in 1977. The Variations sur ‘Adeste fideles’ are comparatively brief and provide an excellent example of the breadth of Cochereau’s stylistic traits, many inherited from the ‘three Ds’ – Debussy, Dupre and Durufle.
The most substantial re-creation is the mighty four-movement Symphonie, improvised at Symphony Hall, Boston in 1956. The light and airy Scherzo and bristlingly brilliant ‘Final’ are the most effective movements. Another highlight is the thistlefloss Allelluia de Paques from 1973.
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral’s 4500 pipes coupled with the eight-second reverberation period guarantee a sonic spectacular. Listeners need considerate neighbours! A fascinatingly worthwhile enterprise