Since Duboscq, Daniel-Lesur, and Giroud are unknown to me, I’m making the possibly perilous assumption that they are unknown to you as well. Claude Duboscq (1897–1938) was, as the notes tell me, “devout to the point of intoxication.” The Orasions are his only compositions for organ, and they are two very quiet, Gregorian chant-based miniatures of Franckian power. Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1908–2002) was a student of Tournemire. His In Paradisum, also chant-based and utilizing the organ’s pianissimo, is eloquent and conveys, paradoxically, an affectivily powerful musical experience. Jean Giroud (1910–1997) was also a student of Tournemire and of Bonnet. The first of his Images pour un chemin de croix—Jesus is condemned to die—finally brings the organ to full cry. What follows that piece is aphoristic, abstract, and meditative. These Tournemire moments show him in a different light than I am accustomed to. The two extracts from his Chorals-Poèms pour les 7 Paroles du Christ are driven by extremely short motivic kernels often deployed in ascending or descending sequences above a pedal point. In the end, it is Tournemire at his most abstract and most eloquent.

The recording is excellent, offering a fine balance between direct sound and reverberation. Pedal notes register both powerfully and cleanly, and Joubert’s often-subtle registration choices come through in all their poetry.

This is a fine effort on all counts.

William Zagorski, FANFARE