More from Maurice Duruflé

Last month in a tribute to the late Sir Andrew Davis, I mentioned the absence from the catalog of Maurice Duruflé's orchestral Trois danses. My friend and frequent commenter centuri quickly reminded me that the composer himself had recorded the work.

I say "reminded me" because I actually own a copy of the record. It contains a stimulating program that also includes Duruflé's Messe "Cum jubilo" and his a capella Quatre motets.

Duruflé (1902-86) was a French composer and organist who was severely self-critical and published relatively few works. A student of Paul Dukas, his lineage to the great Impressionists is apparent. He remained a musical conservative throughout his career.

Marie-Madelaine and Maurice Duruflé

Duruflé and his wife Marie-Madelaine Chevalier Duruflé (1921-99) were notable instrumentalists. Both were organists at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris. Anthony Tomassini wrote in the New York Times that Marie-Madelaine was "the last great exponent of the French Romantic school of organ playing, which valued elegant grandeur, textural clarity and rhythmic freedom." She is the organist in the Messe "Cum jubilo" on this LP. The Orchestre National de la ORTF is heard both in the mass and in the Trois danses.

Roger Soyer

The mass setting comes from 1966, but its sound world will be familiar to those who know the composer's 1947 Requiem, which itself was modelled on Gabriel Fauré's similar work of 1887-93. The Mass exists in several versions, for chorus alone, chorus and orchestra, and chorus and organ. The version on this LP subsumes all those forces, with soloist Roger Soyer (born 1939), a baritone who frequently appeared on records of the time. The Gramophone's Lionel Salter remarked that he displays "a voice of beautiful quality and a fine legato line."

Salter noted that the mass is based in the plainsong tradition, "hence both the absence of all vocal harmony or polyphony and the flexibility of metre."

The album also includes the Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens for choir alone. Another familiar recording ensemble, the Chorale Stéphane Caillat, is heard in this work and the mass. The motets date from 1960.

Concluding the LP are the Trois danses, which include "Divertissements" and "Tambourin" along with the "Danse lente" that Andrew Davis programmed for his Requiem album. The suite is a relatively early work, written in 1936.

This music is all rewarding and engrossing, and these performances are presumably definitive.

My copy of the album is the US Musical Heritage Society pressing. In preference to that edition, I remastered the original Erato release from 1971-2, as found on Internet Archive. The choral works were recorded by Radio France in 1971. The recording of the Trois danses dates from 1968. Salter's assessment: "The playing of the ORTF Orchestra under the composer is polished and precise, and the recording notably well balanced." The critic dismissed the LP's liner notes as "wooly and superficial," to which I would add incomprehensible. Salter's review, included in the download, is a much better introduction to the music.

Tech note: this recording is presented in a 24-bit, 96kHz transfer. My own view is that this is overkill for an LP transfer and probably for capturing any music. There is, however, a demand for such a product, so I'll provide it to see if anyone notices the difference. My own transfers are made at 24-96 for editing purposes, so I might as well maintain that resolution for the masters. I may do this only for stereo classical recordings, but we'll see. Your views are welcome.

Update: reader Gabriel let me know about distortion on the choral voices in the Four Motets. I have now transferred these pieces from my own copy, the Musical Heritage Society pressing. It is an improvement. The new version is linked below. Also, I've added a 16-bit, 44.1kHz alternative.

LINK [Revised version, 24-bit, 96kHz]

LINK [Revised version, 16-bit, 44.1kHz]