2 Improvisations sur La Marseillaise - Pierre Cochereau, tr. David Briggs (Cathédrale de Luçon)

Two Improvisations on 'La Marseillaise' - Pierre Cochereau (1971/1977), transcribed from the original recordings (Disques du Solstice) and played by David Briggs on the Grandes Orgues Aristide Cavaillé-Coll of La Cathédrale de Luçon, Vendée, France.

I remember experiencing the unique sound of a true French organ for the first time at the Cathédrale de Luçon (Vendée) on a family holiday in 1977 - and it still has the same effect on my system! I was then 14 years old, and I remember my dad clapping loudly in the nave, gesticulating wildly to attract the attention of the guest recitalist (Jean-Louis Gil) who was rehearsing for a concert high up in the west end gallery. I remember the curious mélange of blood-curdling embarrassment and irrepressible, spine-tingling excitement. In his loud (and decidedly dodgy) Franglais, my dad explained that his son was a budding organist and asked if it would be possible to come up and visit the console. We did, and Maitre Gil (who was rehearsing some impossibly dense but totally wondrous Reger) allowed me to stumble my way through “Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn” from the Bach Orgelbüchlein. Although this was my first direct contact with the keys of a Cavaillé-Coll, what I’ll never forget is hearing him play the big Reger on the tutti - I’d never heard anything quite like it and this remains one of those “before-and-after” moments, the like of which happen only rarely in your life. My dad died two years later, so I'm thinking of him very much today, especially his 100% unconditional support.

It has been such a colossally joyful experience to re-establish contact with this truly great organ, over the past week, and I'm very happy to be playing a concert at 17.00, exclusively consisting of Cochereau transcriptions, in the presence of his daughter (Marie-Pierre Cochereau), who lives nearby. As the Maitre himself would have said, it's a bit like driving an old truck, but my goodness the results are SO worth it!