Marie-Claire Alain News
French organist and organ teacher
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- organist, organ teacher, musicologist, music teacher, harpsichordist
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2024-04-25
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2024-04-01 03:30:00
Duruflé: Requiem; Poulenc: Four Lenten Motets (CD Review)
by Karl NehringThe Choir of Trinity College Cambridge; Harrison Cole, organ; Stephen Layton, conductor. Hyperion CDA68436I will freely admit to knowing very little about the French composer Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986). To be honest, until studying the CD booklet and doing a quick bit of supplementary research, I had no idea he was so relatively modern, living until 1986. And although I am not a huge organ buff, I certainly recognize the names of the famous organists Pierre Cochereau, Jean Guillou, and Marie-Claire Alain – all of whom were students of Duruflé. However, although I knew very little about Duruflé the composer (pictured below), I was familiar with one of his compositions, because his Requiem was sometimes paired on recordings along with the Requiem of his fellow Frenchman, Gabriel Fauré. An outstanding example of that pairing is the Telarc release featuring Robert Shaw leading the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.Whereas the Telarc recording of the Duruflé features the full […]
2024-03-27 08:09:00
Revisiting Staatsoper Berlin’s Ring cycle proved a thrilling experience: Dmitri Tcherniakov's production returns to Unter den Linden with conductor Philippe Jordan
[…] directed by Norwegian director, Stefan Herheim. He's another newcomer to Wagner's epic tetralogy who, incidentally, was a disciple of Götz Friedrich, a formidable and well-respected director and, indeed, a Ring superstar! Ring cycles, it seems, are pasted all over the European cultural landscape outside of Deutschland and one that grabs my attention has been unfolding at La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, one of my favourite European houses. They're well into their new cycle conducted by Alain Altinoglu and directed by Romeo Castellucci. Das Rheingold arrived last year, Die Walküre was seen earlier this year and Siegfried comes to the stage in September followed by Götterdämmerung in January 2025. The end of the Gods and, indeed, the end of Intendant, Peter de Caluwe, who quietly fades into a well-earned retirement after batting a superb innings knocking up 18 years. His replacement, 58-year-old Christina Scheppelmann, arrives from Seattle Opera early in […]
2024-03-22 12:00:00
Organ Reborn! Norwich Cathedral Organ Festival: A new music festival for Norwich
[…] of the congregation must be seated by 2.45pm. Acclaimed JS Bach specialist, Anne Page, will give a recital of works by this great German composer and musician of the late Baroque period (Monday, 8 July, 8pm) in what promises an exciting and popular programme. Born and educated in Perth, Australia, Page, who, incidentally, has been an advocate in reviving the humble harmonium as a mainstream instrument, moved to Europe to continue advanced studies successively with Marie-Claire Alain, Peter Hurford and Jacques van Oortmerssen. Based in Cambridge, she directed the Cambridge Summer Recitals for eight years presenting a host of world and UK first performances and bringing several major recitalists from Europe to Britain for the first time. She made her London début playing a 20th-century repertoire at the Royal Festival Hall. Tickets £12. Seating unreserved. And star of the organ world and, indeed, social media sensation, Anna Lapwood, will put the newly-rebuilt […]
2024-02-09 11:14:00
Why do we always forget the Roma?
In his absorbing and sometimes outrageous memoir The Way to to the Labyrinth: Memories of East and West the authority on Hinduism and Indian music Alain Daniélou makes the following thoughtful comment: I often wonder at the way people who speak of genocide always seems to forget the Gypsies, the homosexuals, and the German dissidents who died at the hands of the Nazis; by limiting their condemnations, they only weaken their argument. It is not just because the victims were Jewish that extermination camps were abominable. I never quite trust the sincerity of people who openly condemn anti-Semitism but conveniently forget the many other victims of Nazism. Back in 2006 in my post Roma - the forgotten Holocaust victims I explained how the fate of the millions of Jews murdered in Hitler's death camps is well documented and remembered, but less is known about the 500,000 Gypsies who also died. There are not […]
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