Marcel DuPré. organist - Mercury

[Lance]

I have long had a passion for organ music. There is really so much available on discs, and like any music one is interested in, it is quite impossible to have everything. DuPré, however, made a big hit whenever he appeared in the USA. He made a series of ten LPs for Mercury's "Living Presence" label, which was acquired by Universal embracing so many other labels. I recently broke down and got his complete Mercury ten-disc set [478 8388]. It offers the covers of the original LPs, and has been remastered by Larry Fine, son of the original well known C. Robert Fine and mother, Wilma Cozart. His last recording, prompted by Paul Paray, who got him back to the USA after a long absence, to recording Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 ("Organ") with the Detroit Symphony. About half the recordings in this set have not previously been reissued on CD. Any other takers on DuPré? Music featured is by Franck, DuPré (composer), JS Bach, Messiaen, and Widor.

[John F]

With organists, it's particularly important what instrument they played. Dupré was the organist at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, whose immense organ built by Cavallé-Coll makes quite an impressive sound on the few Dupré records I've heard. (Not a great fan of organ music, I'm afraid.) What organ he played in the US, I've no information about.

The only Dupré record I have is the Saint-Saens Symphony #3, recorded by Mercury with Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I've never felt the need to get another.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUKA0rzveAs

[jbuck919]

I have long had a passion for organ music. There is really so much available on discs, and like any music one is interested in, it is quite impossible to have everything. DuPré, however, made a big hit whenever he appeared in the USA. He made a series of ten LPs for Mercury's "Living Presence" label, which was acquired by Universal embracing so many other labels. I recently broke down and got his complete Mercury ten-disc set [478 8388]. It offers the covers of the original LPs, and has been remastered by Larry Fine, son of the original well known C. Robert Fine and mother, Wilma Cozart. His last recording, prompted by Paul Paray, who got him back to the USA after a long absence, to recording Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 ("Organ") with the Detroit Symphony. About half the recordings in this set have not previously been reissued on CD. Any other takers on DuPré? Music featured is by Franck, DuPré (composer), JS Bach, Messiaen, and Widor.

For a moment I thought you were going to say that Larry Fine was the son of Larry Fine, the second of the Three Stooges and an accomplished violinist. (Right, and Wilma Cozart was also not the great-granddaughter of Cosima Mozart.)

I may have to break down and get this, Lance. He is my favorite of the late 19th- and 20th-century French composers, emphatically not barring Messiaen. He was noted for his improvisations and raised organ technique to a pianistic level, perhaps not single-handedly, but his is the name I think of when I think of when it comes to modern virtuosic playing on the organ. He was also the teacher of Carl Weinrich, and since I had one lesson with Weinrich, I have a legacy back to DuPré, who had a legacy back to Bach. It's sort of like the Catholic Church's apostolic succession, you see.

More to the point, I have heard very little of his playing, perhaps one LP in the college library. While I can't speak to John F's concern about what organs he might have played in the US, I do know that his favorite organ here was the quite worthy and recently mentioned Grand Court organ at Wanamaker's in Philadelphia. He sought the opportunity to play it every time he visited. Only one way for me to find out the rest.

(As a footnote to his career, DuPré was the organist at the wedding of the Duke of Windsor and Mrs. Simpson.)

[jserraglio]

I have long had a passion for organ music. There is really so much available on discs, and like any music one is interested in, it is quite impossible to have everything. DuPré, however, made a big hit whenever he appeared in the USA. He made a series of ten LPs for Mercury's "Living Presence" label, which was acquired by Universal embracing so many other labels. I recently broke down and got his complete Mercury ten-disc set [478 8388]. It offers the covers of the original LPs, and has been remastered by Larry Fine, son of the original well known C. Robert Fine and mother, Wilma Cozart. His last recording, prompted by Paul Paray, who got him back to the USA after a long absence, to recording Saint-Saens' Symphony No. 3 ("Organ") with the Detroit Symphony. About half the recordings in this set have not previously been reissued on CD. Any other takers on DuPré? Music featured is by Franck, DuPré (composer), JS Bach, Messiaen, and Widor.

under $40 on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Marcel-Dupre-Rem ... B0113A5ANW

CD1 FRANCK Pièce héroïque, M. 37 · 3 Chorales pour orgue - Recorded 1957, Saint Thomas Church, New York City
CD2 WIDOR Organ Symphony No. 6 in G Minor, Op. 42 No. 2, i. Allegro · Organ Symphony No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 13 No. 2, iv. Salve Regina [Revised version, 1901]
DUPRÉ Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, Op. 7 No. 3 · Triptyque, Op. 51 Recorded 1957, Saint Thomas Church, New York City (Dupré First Release on CD)
CD3 J.S. BACH Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV 532 · Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 · Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548 Recorded 1959, Saint-Sulpice, Paris
CD4 DUPRÉ Cortège et litanie, Op. 19 No. 4 · Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20 · Sept Pièces, Op. 27, iv. Carillon, vii. Final in G Mino, Lamento, Op 24 - Recorded 1959, Saint-Sulpice, Paris
CD5 FRANCK Grande Pièce symphonique, Op. 17 · Faintaisie en la majeur · Pastorale, Op. 19, No. 4; Andantino Quasi allegretto - Recorded 1959, Saint-Sulpice, Paris
CD6 J.S. BACH 6 Chorales, BWV 645-650 ( Schübler Chorales) · Fantasia in C Minor, BWV 562 · Fantasia in G Major, BWV 572 - Recorded 1959, Saint-Sulpice, Paris
CD7 DUPRÉ 3 Preludes and Fugues, Op 36
MESSIAEN Le Banquet céleste · Les Bergers (from La Nativité du Seigneur) - Recorded 1959, Saint-Sulpice, Paris
CD8 J.S. BACH Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist, BWV 671 · Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr , BWV 662 · Wir glauben all an einen Gott, BWV 680 · Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam, BWV 684 · In dir ist Freude, BWV 615 · O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde gross, BWV 622 · Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar, BWV 607 · Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt, BWV 637 · Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645 · Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit, BWV 668 - Recorded 1965, Saint Ouen, Rouen
CD9 DUPRÉ Symphonie-Passion, Op. 23 · Choral et Fugue Op. 57 · Hymne Iste -
confessor, Op. 38 No. 2 · In dulci jubilo, Op. 28 · Toccata sur Ave maris stella, Op. 38 No. 11 - Recorded 1965, Saint Ouen, Rouen
CD10 SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No. 3 in C

[maestrob]

So much music, so little time.........

[John F]

So Mercury's recordings of Dupré made in the US were at Saint Thomas Church in New York. As for the Paray/Detroit Symphony recording of Saint-Saens's Symphony #3, the Ford Auditorium where the orchestra then played had a big Aeolian-Skinner organ installed that very year. Maybe the performances and recording of the symphony were to christen the new instrument.