Une inauguration d'orgue en 1900 (An organ inauguration in 1900) - Philippe Sauvage, Ensemble vocal Cavaillé-Coll

The inauguration of the grand Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Church of Saint-Pierre in Neuilly, as well as its restoration in 2007, clearly demonstrates the vitality of the French organ in 1900. At the confluence of a multitude of currents, the organ in 1900 clearly oscillated between tradition and modernity. Heir to an apparently stilted academicism – March of Joan of Arc, Tu es Petrus – Théodore Dubois displays a most poetic inspiration (Ave Maria); Charles Gounod, that of a triumphant Church (Pontifical March); Louis Lefébure-Wely echoes a more popular taste (Concert Bolero); others, like Henri Letocart, rediscover older forms (verse in F), while nevertheless paving the way for a specifically "French" style. While Léon Boellmann remained resolutely faithful to a lyrical Romanticism (Prayer to Our Lady), it was Louis Vierne, a genius improviser, who marked a true entry into the 20th century with the Andantino and the Westminster Carillon.

As a craftsman-musician serving the liturgy, Philippe Sauvage reconciled the Ancients and the Moderns in a 1900s improvisation that resonated with all these currents.

Philippe Sauvage , organ;
Hervé Lamy, tenor;
Claire Louchet-Destremau, soprano;
Cavaillé-Coll Vocal Ensemble

Grand Organ Aristide Cavaillé-Coll of the Church of Saint-Pierre in Neuilly

Louis-James-Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817-1869)
1.    Boléro de Concert op. 166    4'22

     Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
2.    Marche Pontificale    2'39

     Louis-James-Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817-1869)
3.    Elévation ou communion    2'37

     L'Organiste moderne (2e livraison)
     Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)
4.    Regina Caeli    3'58

     Henri Letocart (1846-1945)
5.    Verset    1'53

     Louis VIERNE (1870-1937)
6.    Andantino    3'13

     Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)
7.    Tu es Petrus    2'288.    

Marche de Jeanne d'Arc    5'00

     Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
9.    O Salutaris    4'03

     Léon BOELLMANN (1862-1897)
10.    Prière à Notre Dame    5'00

     Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)
11.    Cantate Domino    3'24

     Louis VIERNE (1870-1937)
12.    Carillon de Westminster    6'57

     Henri Letocart (1846-1945)
13.    Entrée    1'55

     Théodore Dubois (1837-1924)
14.    Ave Maria    4'57

     Philippe Sauvage
15.    Improvisation 1900    12'19