Choral No 1 in E - Franck
Trois mΘditations sur la Sainte TrinitΘ 0 - Langlais
In paradisum - Mulet
Tu es Petrus - Mulet
The organ in the Pro-Cathedral is probably the best in Ireland for French Romantic organ music. Its defined choruses and individual colours, and its placing in the west-end balcony, have just enough in common with French practice to create an experience which feels authentic.
Gerard Gillen's programme last Wednesday included one of the high points of the French Romantic tradition, plus other works which epitomise the later years of this highly specialised field of composition and playing.
Henri Mulet was one of those mystical, eccentric geniuses who give the byways of late Romantic art an enduring fascination. His Tu es Petrus, from the Esquisses Byzantines, is one of the most demanding of all French toccatas for organ. I have heard performances which had more technical dash than Gerard Gillen's. But this music thrives primarily on atmosphere, on an impression of eager discovery. Those qualities were abundant in this piece and in Langlais's Trois mΘditations sur la Sainte TrinitΘ.
Franck wrote his Trois Chorals in 1890. The challenges presented by the first, in E, lie not in technique but in holding together its calculated looseness of structure. Gillen's timing of links between sections sometimes over-emphasised that looseness. But his loving shaping of detail and command of this organ's colours made for a winning performance of one of the finest organ works of the late 19th century.
Andrew Johnstone plays at the Pro-Cathedral on Wednesday, September 26th, at 1.15 p.m.