Album

In selecting essential organ masterworks by Jehan Alain and Maurice Duruflé, organist William Whitehead points up some interesting connections between the two composers. Not least of these is their shared fascination with asymmetrical or additive rhythms, and Whitehead strongly emphasizes this feature in his vigorous performances on Dances of Life and Death. If organ music ordinarily seems four-square and solemnly hymn-like, then prepare to hear some of the most athletically rhythmic organ music ever written. Alain's intensely energetic and ecstatic pieces dominate the program, and no work here is more propulsive or powerful than Litanies (1937), Alain's most famous and influential composition. A quotation from Litanies appears in Duruflé's Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain (1942), and the flexible rhythms and flowing figurations of this tribute indicate his complete sympathy with his late friend's work. But note also Duruflé's Danse lente (1932), which seems to anticipate Alain's style in its obsessive reiterations and irregular patterns. Whitehead performs on the organ in Auxerre Cathedral, designed by Dominique Oberthür in 1986 to incorporate French Classical and Romantic stops and modern mechanisms, reproducing sonorities and effects familiar to Alain and Duruflé. The recording's quality is clear and scrupulously free of noises, except for some faint bird calls in the distance.

© Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide

CD 1
Jehan Ariste Alain Composer Trois danses, JA120a, AWV119 Work 23:33 William Whitehead Organ
1	1.Joies (Joys)	7:02			$1.49
2	2.Deuils (Sorrows)	12:02			$1.99
3	3.Luttes (Struggles)	4:29			$0.99
Jehan Ariste Alain Composer Aria, JA138, AWV120 Work William Whitehead Organ
4	Aria, JA138, AWV120	8:07			$1.49
Jehan Ariste Alain Composer Deux Danses à Agni Yavishta, JA77-78, AWV61 Work 4:40 William Whitehead Organ
5	Allegro -	1:07			$0.99
6	Pas vite	3:33			$0.99
Jehan Ariste Alain Composer Variations sur 'Lucis Creator', JA27, AWV29 Work William Whitehead Organ
7	Variations sur 'Lucis Creator', JA27, AWV29	4:46			$0.99
Maurice Duruflé Composer 3 Dances, Op.6 Work William Whitehead Organ
8	2.Danse lente	8:50			$1.49
Jehan Ariste Alain Composer Litanies, JA119, AWV100 Work William Whitehead Organ
9	Litanies, JA119, AWV100	4:34			$0.99
Jehan Ariste Alain Composer Le Jardin Suspendu, JA71, AWV63 Work William Whitehead Organ
10	Le Jardin Suspendu, JA71, AWV63	6:17			$0.99
Maurice Duruflé Composer Prelude and Fugue on the Name A.L.A.I.N., Op.7 Work 12:24 William Whitehead Organ
11	1.Prélude	6:49			$0.99
12	2.Fugue	5:35			$0.99