Organist’s Review, February 2023

2022 was the year of the bicentenary of the birth of César Franck in 1822, and to mark this celebration of a significant French composer, Lyrebird Music have published a new edition of his organ works, skilfully edited by Richard Brasier. Franck was responsible for establishing a school of organ composition in France which would prove to be a formidable influence on succeeding Parisian organists and composers, notably Widor, Vierne, Dupre and Duruflé. In addition to Franck’s own manuscripts, there is also a plethora of archival material amongst collectors and those archives inherited by the Bibliotheque nationale de France, so there has been much material to back up Brasier’s research for this edition.

 

Franck’s manuscripts and earlier publications of his works, now well established, have however left many questions unanswered and generations of editors have tried to find solutions to inconsistencies, though not always with the academic rigour one might expect.  Richard Brasier has applied an analytical approach with an admirable amount of research in an endeavour to make this new edition the ‘go to’ version for organists. I have to say that he has succeeded magnificently and his many hours of detailed research will be much appreciated by generations of organists to come.

 

The edition is very easy to read and has been printed on good quality paper and in a font which is clear and easy on the eye. Published in four volumes, Volume 1 is the Preface and Commentary with a foreword by Marie-Louise Langlais. This volume contains much interesting and useful historical information, as well as detailed notes on performance practice, spotlighting Franck’s pianistic background and evidence of this throughout his organ repertoire. Brasier also emphasises the necessity in Franck’s music for the legato style advocated by Lemmens and Guilmant alongside the fiery tonal colours of the reeds on Cavaillé-Coll organs and discusses performance traditions in use at Franck’s time and how these relate to those instruments. There is also much scrutiny of those unanswered questions in earlier editions and Brasier has found compelling and logical answers to many of these in the detailed commentary on the works, using Franck’s own manuscripts as his primary source.  Brasier also goes into registrational issues of the repertoire in some depth with a detailed account of the instruments known to Franck, and especially the organ at Sainte-Clotilde where Franck was Titulaire. (an instrument which has seen much change over the years) Included are specifications and cross-sections of the Sainte-Clotilde console and mechanism in Franck’s day. This is all fascinating and highly informative and will help to shape the playing of Franck amongst organists minded to read and take all this on board. It will also help to give an insight into how to play this music on non-French instruments. The commentary also includes a facsimile of Franck’s Piece Héroique, (Tracadéro manuscript) which shows the composer’s neat and fastidious hand.

 

One thing which I found fascinating is a list of the metronome speeds used by a variety of French organists on their recordings of the Choral No.3. These include Tournemire. (a successor of Franck’s at Sainte-Clotilde) Bonnet, Dupré, Marchal, Langlais and Duruflé.  There is also a catalogue of his works which includes information such as date of completion, date of first performance and where the manuscript can be found.

 

Lyrebird Music and editor Richard Brasier can be justly proud of this new edition. It is a publication of the very highest quality which has been painstakingly researched and presented in an attractive, clear, concise and beautifully produced series of four volumes. In order to get the best out of this edition, it will mean buying Volume 1 in addition to whichever volumes of the music you need. But that’s not a hardship when you are purchasing such a comprehensive and valuable piece of academic work and all serious organists should own a complete set, and this should be the edition which they will want to use. I cannot commend it highly enough, and I will certainly be using it in all my recitals from now on.

Malcolm Archer