Sur le nom d’Alain
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Suite, Op 5 (1932)
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Intermezzo, JA 66 (1935)
Variations sur Lucis Creator, JA 27 (1932)
Suite, JA 82 (1935)
Aria, JA 138 (1938)
Maurice Duruflé
Chant donné ‘Hommage à Jean Gallon’
Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain, Op 7 (1942)
Jehan Alain
Litanies, JA 119 (1937)
Matthew Martin (organ)
rec. 2022, Buckfast Abbey, Devon, UK
Ad Fontes AF010 [75]
Currently, Mathew Martin (b. 1976) is the Precentor and Director of Music at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. I’ve encountered a lot of his own choral music on disc and on radio and I’ve reviewed a number of discs on which he appears either as conductor or, primarily in an accompanying role, as an organist. This, though, is the first solo recital recording by him that has come my way.
The booklet includes an illuminating extended conversation between Matthew Martin and Matthew Searles, the executive producer of the disc. In it, Martin explains that Duruflé and Alain are composers “who have fascinated me in different ways since I was a youngster, the latter being in some ways responsible for my early interest in the organ”. When he got to hear some of Alain’s music on an LP at the age of thirteen, it was the concluding Chorale from the Suite that made a particular impression on him. Not long afterwards came the discovery of some of Duruflé’s music. That was through an LP recorded on the organ of Buckfast Abbey; since the present organ at Buckfast was installed as recently as 2018, I imagine that LP had been recorded using an earlier instrument in the Abbey church.
Martin spent three years as a pupil of the great French organist, Marie-Claire Alain (1926-2013). Amongst the pieces he studied with her were some of the works by her brother, Jehan; that must have been an enormous privilege. In the booklet he comments that even though Jehan died when she was only 13 years old, she had clear recollections of him and she passed on her accumulated experience of her brother’s music to Martin. He says “Adjustments in my copies were often made in her hand and registrations marked (sacred and never to be erased!)” Among the wisdom and knowledge that she passed down was an alternative ending to the concluding ‘Chorale’ movement of Jehan’s Suite, copied from an earlier draft of the piece; that’s the version which Martin has recorded here. I wasn’t aware until I read the contents of the Ad Fontes booklet that Jehan’s father, Albert had built an organ in the family home. Apparently, he worked on this from 1910 for the rest of his life (he died in 1971). Much of Jehan Alain’s inspiration to write for the organ came from his exposure to this organ. Sometime after Albert’s death the instrument was given by Marie-Claire Alain to Guy Bovet and, after restoration, it finally found a home in Romainmôitier in Switzerland where it is looked after by the Association Jehan Alain. The Ad Fontes documentation includes some notes about the organ, an evocative black-and-white picture of it and a full specification.
There’s also a full specification of the Buckfast Abbey organ. This is the work of the Italian firm, Fratelli Rufatti of Padua. The organ was installed in Buckfast Abbey in 2018. It is a four-manual instrument, which consists of a Quire Organ and, at the west end of the church, a Gallery Organ. The organ comprises 5542 pipes (100 ranks) and boasts 81 speaking stops – including both a 16’ and a 32’ Bombarde in the pedal division – and 42 bells. I’m not an organist myself but from the specification it appears that the organ has copious resources, which Matthew Martin puts to full use. In the booklet he says of the instrument: “there is something of a French accent, and more than a nod towards the sort of Gonzalez rebuild at Saint -Étienne-du-Mont (presided over by Duruflé) and the quirkiness of the ‘Alain’ organ.”
Maurice Duruflé’s compositional style grew from the tradition of Franck, Vierne and Tournemire and, of course, the soundworld of Cavaillé-Coll organs, whereas Alain was in Martin’s words, “perhaps more experimental”. Duruflé’s organ music was, as is well-known, heavily influenced by plainchant but Alain’s music was more secular (most of his music included here was not written for liturgical use). Martin’s programme is shrewdly chosen; it allows us to hear both composers at their respective bests and also to experience the contrasts between them.
Duruflé’s Suite is a marvellous opener. At the very start of ‘Prélude’ I love the sepulchral sounds that Martin conjures up from the pedal division. That, plus the telling use of reeds establishes a fine atmosphere. Both the organ and the abbey acoustic seem very well suited to the music. Gradually, the music expands in strength and volume until a hugely imposing climax is reached, after which the way the movement subsides is highly effective. The middle movement is ‘Sicilienne’. Here, the mood is much lighter, as are the timbres that Martin obtains from the organ. Apparently, the hyper-self-critical Duruflé was never satisfied with the concluding ‘Toccata’, though it’s hard to see why. It’s a magnificent piece, which Martin plays in a most exciting way. The ending is truly spectacular; it’s a triumph for the organist, the organ, and for David Hinitt, the engineer.
A little later in the programme we hear Alain’s Suite. This, too, is in three movements but it’s very different to Duruflé’s composition. Alain begins with ‘Introduction et variations’, a most ingenious piece which exudes ambience in this performance. The central ‘Scherzo’ opens in an interesting fashion; the use of sustained notes at the start cunningly disguises the pulse completely. Once the scherzo proper gets underway, the music is fascinating, consisting of several different yet related episodes. Finally comes ‘Chorale’. This is majestic and imposing but the exploratory harmonies make the piece anything but straightforward. As I mentioned earlier, Matthew Martin’s impressive performance includes the alternative ending supplied to him by Marie-Claire Alain.
Alain’s ‘Variations sur Lucis Creator’uses a plainchant melody as its foundation but it is, I’m sure, a concert piece. The variations are most inventive and Martin plays the piece imaginatively. The ‘Aria’, which comes later in the programme, is an intriguing composition which seems to me to be introspective in nature even when, occasionally, the volume is loud. This is another piece in which Alain’s music has an exploratory nature, both in terms of the melodic lines and, especially, the harmonic language. The piece has an air of strangeness about it and I feel that Alain is here pushing the boundaries of the French organ tradition.
Fittingly, Matthew Martin includes the work which unites both composers, Duruflé’s Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain, which he wrote as a tribute to his colleague after his untimely death. Until shortly before its conclusion the Prélude is nimble and light-textured. Martin makes extensive use of what I might term “bubbly” stops (you can tell I’m not an organist!) His registrations are well-imagined and the playing is very dexterous. The Fugue begins innocently enough but builds cleverly and excitingly.
I suppose it was almost inevitable that Martin should close his programme with Litanies, Alain’s most celebrated composition. This is an exciting piece which makes great demands on the player; perhaps unsurprisingly it has come to be thought of as something of a virtuoso showpiece. However, Matthew Martin reminds us in the booklet that the piece was composed in memory of one of his sisters, Marie-Odile (1914-1937), who had died in a mountain accident. He is definite: “It’s not a happy piece!” That said, he offers a compelling, virtuoso performance. It was in this piece that I was most aware of the differentiation between the Quire and Gallery organs. This performance makes a spectacular conclusion to the recital.
This is an outstanding disc in every way. The music is marvellous – and discerningly chosen – and the performances are superb. Several of the pieces call for overt virtuosity and in all these instances Matthew Martin delivers in spades. But he’s just as impressive in the more intimate, subdued works such as Alain’s ‘Aria’ or his ‘Intermezzo’. The programme gives a thorough workout to the Rufatti organ which, on this evidence, is clearly a most impressive and flexible instrument.
The engineering is an unqualified success. Producer/engineer David Hinitt has recorded the organ marvellously. The ‘big statement’ pieces such as Litanies and the outer movements of the Duruflé Suite come across with thrilling impact while the quieter pieces are beautifully presented. In the booklet, Matthew Martin very justly refers to the organ as “the voice of the building”. Hinitt has made it so, not just in the way he’s presented the sound of the instrument but, just as importantly, in the expert way he’s used the acoustic halo of the abbey church.
The disc is presented in a hard-back book-style casing within which is the documentation. Instead of notes per se, there’s a most interesting conversation about the two composers and their organ music between Matthew Martin and Matthew Searles, the executive producer of the disc. The documentation, which includes a good number of photographs, is exemplary.
I’ve been deeply impressed by this album of French organ music from Devon. Encore, s’il vous plait!
John Quinn
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