The French organist and composer
Nicolas de Grigny
died of unknown causes in 1703 at the age of 31 or 32. He has never been well known, but one person who remembered him was the young
J.S. Bach
, who copied out the entire
Livre d'Orgue
("
Organ Book
") heard here; the copy still resides in the City and University Library of Frankfurt. Almost all his music, save one harpsichord overture, is heard on this release. This is something of a specialist release, with a booklet delving into such matters as engraving technique rather than discussing what the music is like and why it sounds the way it does. However, several aspects add interest for the general listener. One is the sheer sensuous beauty of the 1710 Great Organ at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles, as played by organists
Michel Bouvard
(in the organ mass on the first CD of the physical version) and
François Espinasse
(on the hymn settings on the second disc). Hear the marvelous tone, hesitating and almost beseeching, of the "Récit de Cromorne" in the three-section "Veni Creator" setting on the second CD. (It is not known exactly what a "cromorne" was, other than that it was different from the English crumhorn; it was a French woodwind instrument shown in prints from the French court.) The other major draw here is the music itself, which is unlikely to be known even to lovers of the French Baroque. One can see what
Bach
liked about it. The organ mass includes a number of fugues, certainly not typical of French music of the period, and they are in the service of a generally dense, sober texture that is entirely different from the formality of the organ music from the court (
worked mostly in Reims). The mass is a hefty, impressive work, and it is a bit hard to understand its general neglect. The music is beautifully recorded, and the album may be recommended to general hearers as well as to organists and their friends. ~ James Manheim