Tournemire arr. Duruflé - Cinq Improvisations (with score)

The five improvisations of Charles Tournemire, transcribed and edited by Maurice Duruflé, as played by Philippe Lefebvre at Chartres cathedral.

0:00 - Petite Rapsodie Improvisée
3:52 - Cantilène Improvisée
8:49 - Improvisation sur le "Te Deum"
16:04 - Fantaisie-Improvisation sur "Ave Maris Stella"
25:53 - Choral-Improvisation sur le "Victimae Paschali"

Charles Tournemire (1870-1939) served as the organist at the basilique Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. His modern-day claim to fame is his cycle "L'Orgue Mystique", a collection of organ mass settings for every Sunday of the church calendar. However, he was also a celebrated improviser. In 1930-1931 he recorded five of his improvisations for the phonograph. 25 years later, his former student and assistant Maurice Duruflé, by then a highly successful organist and composer, painstakingly transcribed these improvisations; his intimate knowledge of both the organ and the organist allowed him a level of detail rarely seen or surpassed since.

The organ at Ste-Clotilde, built by the famed Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, was a very idiosyncratic instrument. Duruflé included a preface detailing these aspects such as the unique sounds of combining the Foundations 8', Voix Céléste, Vox Humana and Tremolo, seen in e.g. the "Ave Maris Stella". Duruflé's transcriptions are also not completely literal; there a points where even Duruflé couldn't discern the exact notes, and he even made some additions of his own (although only when it would be characteristic for Tournemire also). Nevertheless, both the improvisations and transcriptions are extremely virtuosic. There is always structure, however; it is remarkable how they sound like written-out pieces. By transcribing them, Duruflé produced an immortal monument to the heights of French improvisation.