I always wonder why this music is always called 'French organ music' or 'This organ is the best for the french organ music'. Even I with my quite basic knowledge can clearly distinct the French Baroque organ from the French Romantic organ (tradition started by Cavaille-Coll). Even though he used lots of original pipes, rather extending the existing instruments of his great predecessors, the voicing and the whole intention is completely different. Newer "French" organs have that type of timbre unification so all registers blend well, losing part of their individuality. It's like having of volume knob where you can just add voices and move from subtle sound to something very loud and powerful yet whole. Baroque instruments have much more different registers with prominent sound qualities where all voices clearly distinctive - that is requirement for the polyphonic music of that period. And I suppose there were even more 'organ schools' in France, that's why Isoir recorded his famous cycle on the very different organs, finding the best match for every period.
I have been trying to learn this sonata for a number of years. It is one of my favourite pieces of music in any genre. You have made it come alive with your interpretation of it. This is the best I have ever heard it played.
Richard this was simply stunning. What combinations we experienced with you! Guilmant & Cavaille-Coll in such acoustics with your interpretation brought us into your performance marvelously. Thank you immensely. Bless you. DJ in Knoxville TN
Richard- this sonata sounds lovely on this organ. The 2nd movement really brings out the beauty of all the different sounds this organ can make. Great job!
The brilliant registrations and sensitivity to the style and period of this piece really brings out the mastery of Guilmant in all its glory. Magnificent playing capturing the high gothic drama of the piece. Just wonderfully inspiring. Thanks Richard.
I LOVE this Sonata, and I LOVE this performance. Bravo Richard - what an accomplishment (and if I recall, this is a rather recent addition to your repertoire). You really brought to life all of Guilmant's extremes of emotion - massive fireworks to tender strings - and YES - this is a Perfect organ for this! Hats off! 😊🎵💕
Nancy and Guilmant are, indeed, made for each other. Again, your registrations a great. What an ear you've got along with your prodigious technique. Patron listening in a city named for Queen Charlotte in a state named for Queen Elizabeth I.
I do not think I have ever heard the symphony in full but the magisterial last movement registered as something i have heard. Apart from the magnificent playing and restoring of a French organ masterpiece, it is the acoustic which helps to set it off. What impresses me so is this is not the 'fake' reverberation you find on electronic instruments but something which captures not just the organ but the space into which it speaks! Bravo!
Again perfect registration! Im in awe!, and as someone else said nice to hear the piece not “ rushed”... used to take it at same pace but that was mainly not to screw up the pedal solo! Not an issue for you clearly!, great performance, wow!
@@beautyinsound I have Ben van Osten's recording of the Guilmant sonatas and also all Widor's and Vierne's symphonies and I agree with you that his performances are benchmark ones 😀😀
Man..! After a Dark and somewhat grim sound of the beginning.. It flows through a sullen and chilling body of musical melodys! To end in a rising skin crawling wave of sound!... 🌹Beautiful! Magnificent!..🌹❤️🌹💕
I have loved this piece ever since I heard the great Felix Hell play it live and on CD. You did just as well, Richard, while understanding that the venue requires a slower tempo. Love that reverb!
@@beautyinsound I'm 68 years old with stage 3 COPD. My days are few and numbered. I'll take my solace in your magnificent performances. God has given you such a wonderful gift. I was not blessed with talent...just a desire for it.
I don't know this sonata very well, but your performance was wonderful! I could hear all the texture in the music very clearly. Kudos to you for introducing this latest sample set from Piotr Grabowski in such a fine way.
A great sound and great playing. Guilmant has been inexplicably underperformed over the years and needs more organists to give him an airing - as you do do magnificently here, Richard. Many thanks!
You must get a huge Adrenalin rush from playing. Superb performance yet again, and as for the Cavaille Coll reeds. Heaven! Excellent page turning from Caroline. Wow, just wow.
Richard, this is stunning! I love the dense harmony, the minor key, the transformations in the multiple dimension in which you and this organ interact. The bass pipes of this are played throughout. Fascinating. A little major key or major ish key creeps in. Does it have legs to Preval? Nope minor key is back big time. Bits of major key here and there. Effective use of woodwind stop in high register. Back to big time minor key. Assertive. Toccata style playing. Some quiet introspective major ish harmonies creeping in indecisively. Big pipes are back in assertive mode. This must be a truly fun piece to play on this particular organ. Pastorale movement in quiet expectant, fading into nothingness, as if sleeping potion befell every pipe in the organ all at once. 4th movement. Assertive fast movement Fabulous in every way.Hypnotic in its power.
Richard, This particular piece is Amazing to hear, your performance, is outstanding. At some future time could play this Composer Sonate Op92 1 thru. 4. It would be spectacular if it can be done. Thank You Sir.
Oh Maestro, this is so incredibly beautiful and soul touching. You have such a sense of color and your registrations are brilliant. I am an organist, and I can't help but be in awe of your supple pedal technique. I am not adroit at playing in stocking feet, but each of us has a particular preference. Although on a flat pedalboard it might be better. Do you play in socks/stockings on concave AGO pedalboard as well? This is a beautiful instrument, as Cavaille-Colls all are. Have you played at St. Sulpice before? That is another of my favorites to listen to. Anyway, this interpretation was brilliant,
Tom from the Midwest region of the United States. Grand choice of organs for this piece. Richard really brings out the capabilities of this organ. What he couldn’t do is try to equal this organ with the 3 manual Austin from my church even with the 7 second reverberation. Richard, you are the best in my books.
HUGE indeed. Nancy is done great justice. Thank you as always Sir Richard and Lady Caroline. And speaking of huge, how much does Prince Hugo Herbert weigh now? He will need to grow to reach the fourth manual on the new console.
Wonder if Guilmant wrote choral works. There are moments in the sonata when a melody seems right for singing. Altogether enjoyable music perfectly expressed by Richard.
My thanks and admiration are incorporated in other's comments. So, my question is: how long did it take you to set the registrations? This can be an aspect of performance much overlooked by the listener. As a retired organist I'm interested to know. One only has to look at St Sulpice videos to see the registrants working from prepared sheets to appreciate the complexity.
Thank you, that's very good performance. Did you add some additional reverb for this recording or updated the front/near/wet/dry setting here, because the organ sounds richier, more powerful here.
Amazing performance! Something about this sample set just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it is just placebo effect? Perhaps the reverb isn't quite natural? I don't know. Still sounds absolutely mega! Your playing is excellent.
How you can make by digital technique of a small 3 keyboard organ a huge 4 manuals Caivaille - Coll organ Beautiful played. 🙏 thanks Ralph . Greetings fromHoorn Nh. 🇳🇱 the Netherlands also for your wonderful family and your lovely son now.
Wow ! Spectaculair play, registrations, great sound ! Just love this French music ! May I suggest you play the 5th Sonata next. Also very spectaculair !
OK, I LOVE the reverb on Nancy but... I already have the Metz, Grand Symphonic and Aristide Cavaille Col... all 3 being CC samples and wondering and would love your opinion: Is Nancy worth getting since I already have 3 CC samples??? Thanks Richard!
As I don’t have any of those, I can’t really advise you. All I can is, I love Nancy and I look forward to performing more pieces on it in the future. I’m doing a live demonstration of the organ on Saturday - it’d be worth tuning into that for a fuller picture.
Hi, I have all the CC's sample sets, but I don't suggest you buy the Nancy, I used it in these days, I'm really unhappy with it. Actually the best one is Caen, there was an extension (4 keyboards) which used to improve it a lot. It was magical and the sound was very natural. Unluckily I can't find it anymore in my folders. At the moment I'm using Dudelange, Essen, St. Bavo and Prytanée, they are the best Hauptwerk sample sets, in terms of quality and naturality of the sound.
Stuning! 😍 Love it! Well done! Also the sampel set ist amazing! In quality which is rare! I think you can‘t compare it with Cean, because those are still two different organs, and every one is different. I think Cean has a bit more the typical snarli fat sound of a Cavaillé-Coll.😃 Will you still play the Cean sampel set?
Definitely French Cavaille-Coll sounds. I lived for a time in Paris. Willis liked C-Coll's work but never hot the reeds quite as free. Also, British Churches do not have the reverberation to take the C-Coll flue treatment, nor the placing in the building.
@@davidwright640 I disagree, I thought the registration was really idiomatic - as you'd expect from Richard tbh. There are a large number of 'British' organists who understand what is idiomatic for this repertoire and organ. The opening section where the Bombarde manual is added to the chords was possibly not as big a hit as one would want but I think that's down to the lack of 'fire' in the reeds which is itself possibly due to the acoustic / reverb. I think that we need to remember that a sampleset will never fully capture the live sound that you'd get if you were in Nancy (although of course where to stand/sit is always a challenge) but I think this is a very fine piece of work from Piotr and very well demonstrated by Richard.
Isn't it amazing how wonderful French organ music sounds on an organ for which the music was composed???
Why the sarcasm?
@@roelofvandermerwe1147 I'm not sure where you're reading sarcasm here, that comment was sincerely meant. Keep your opinions polite.
I always wonder why this music is always called 'French organ music' or 'This organ is the best for the french organ music'. Even I with my quite basic knowledge can clearly distinct the French Baroque organ from the French Romantic organ (tradition started by Cavaille-Coll). Even though he used lots of original pipes, rather extending the existing instruments of his great predecessors, the voicing and the whole intention is completely different. Newer "French" organs have that type of timbre unification so all registers blend well, losing part of their individuality. It's like having of volume knob where you can just add voices and move from subtle sound to something very loud and powerful yet whole. Baroque instruments have much more different registers with prominent sound qualities where all voices clearly distinctive - that is requirement for the polyphonic music of that period. And I suppose there were even more 'organ schools' in France, that's why Isoir recorded his famous cycle on the very different organs, finding the best match for every period.
Stunningly performed on “the perfect organ” for the composition!🎶🎹
I have been trying to learn this sonata for a number of years. It is one of my favourite pieces of music in any genre. You have made it come alive with your interpretation of it. This is the best I have ever heard it played.
Really appreciate that - thank you!
Yep, especially the Pastorale part. But as a whole it demonstrates the Cavaille-Coll's vision in all glory.
Well played Richard. So many people seem to take it too fast, but this version allows the organ to "speak" into the acoustic. Well done sir
Listening to this on the balcony of our cruise ship off Rhodes looking out to sea, absolutely awesome.
25:24 is the best and victorious part✝️☦️
Richard this was simply stunning. What combinations we experienced with you! Guilmant & Cavaille-Coll
in such acoustics with your interpretation brought us into your performance marvelously. Thank you
immensely. Bless you. DJ in Knoxville TN
Oh dear God, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven now. Perfect combination of piece and instrument!
Richard, you carried out this work with exemplary dexterity and truly showed every wonderful colour of this magnificent “King of Instruments!!”.
Splendid! I had not heard of this piece before; I will return for another audition!
Amazing how Hauptwerk captures the acoustic of Nancy as well as the sound of the organ, right in your home studio. Thank you for this performance.
Richard- this sonata sounds lovely on this organ. The 2nd movement really brings out the beauty of all the different sounds this organ can make. Great job!
The brilliant registrations and sensitivity to the style and period of this piece really brings out the mastery of Guilmant in all its glory. Magnificent playing capturing the high gothic drama of the piece. Just wonderfully inspiring. Thanks Richard.
I LOVE this Sonata, and I LOVE this performance. Bravo Richard - what an accomplishment (and if I recall, this is a rather recent addition to your repertoire). You really brought to life all of Guilmant's extremes of emotion - massive fireworks to tender strings - and YES - this is a Perfect organ for this! Hats off! 😊🎵💕
Such beautiful masterly playing. Thank you!!!
Nancy and Guilmant are, indeed, made for each other. Again, your registrations a great. What an ear you've got along with your prodigious technique. Patron listening in a city named for Queen Charlotte in a state named for Queen Elizabeth I.
I do not think I have ever heard the symphony in full but the magisterial last movement registered as something i have heard. Apart from the magnificent playing and restoring of a French organ masterpiece, it is the acoustic which helps to set it off. What impresses me so is this is not the 'fake' reverberation you find on electronic instruments but something which captures not just the organ but the space into which it speaks! Bravo!
One can only hope that you will consider going on to record all of the eight Guilmant Sonatas on this perfect instrument. We will all be grateful.
Gosh, that would be fun and a very large undertaking! Perhaps if someone sponsors this album, then I'd be forced to do it ;)
WOW!!!! So enjoyed listening to this piece. I loved it. Thank you Richard. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Great sound and great piece! Love it.
Absolutely magnificent playing on a beautifully appropriate organ. 👍👍👍
Really enjoyed this performance! The registrations were beautiful as always. I cannot wait to hear more from this organ. 😀
Deep the sound ....warm, full, and in my face 👍🎆💯🤸☀️
Again perfect registration! Im in awe!, and as someone else said nice to hear the piece not “ rushed”... used to take it at same pace but that was mainly not to screw up the pedal solo! Not an issue for you clearly!, great performance, wow!
Thanks Nigel. My performance was inspired by Ben Van Oosten's own performance who takes it at a similar speed to this.
@@beautyinsound I have Ben van Osten's recording of the Guilmant sonatas and also all Widor's and Vierne's symphonies and I agree with you that his performances are benchmark ones 😀😀
Man..! After a Dark and somewhat grim sound of the beginning.. It flows through a sullen and chilling body of musical melodys! To end in a rising skin crawling wave of sound!... 🌹Beautiful! Magnificent!..🌹❤️🌹💕
Thank You Richard Very Much letting the World hear these Masterworks.
Thank you Richard
Wow what a great sound and such beautiful playing bring it alive and wanting it to go on more and not end
I have loved this piece ever since I heard the great Felix Hell play it live and on CD. You did just as well, Richard, while understanding that the venue requires a slower tempo. Love that reverb!
Wonderful! Guilmant is one of my favorite, Especially this piece. Well done Richard!
Splendid & majestic performance !
What a wonderful surprise waiting for me this morning. Loved it. Thank you. Blessings.
One of my favourite organ pieces, both to listen to and play. One of my exam pieces. Many years ago.
Einfach nur grandios !!!! Vielen Dank !!!!
Magnificent piece, instrument and playing.
The music soothes my soul. How I wish I could present such a performance!
It just takes practice :)
@@beautyinsound I'm 68 years old with stage 3 COPD. My days are few and numbered. I'll take my solace in your magnificent performances. God has given you such a wonderful gift. I was not blessed with talent...just a desire for it.
My thoughts and prayers are with you, and I hope you enjoy all the other content on BIS 😊
Gracias a Dios que aún existe ésto tan hermoso y con personas también tan bellas,gracias.
I don't know this sonata very well, but your performance was wonderful! I could hear all the texture in the music very clearly. Kudos to you for introducing this latest sample set from Piotr Grabowski in such a fine way.
A great sound and great playing. Guilmant has been inexplicably underperformed over the years and needs more organists to give him an airing - as you do do magnificently here, Richard. Many thanks!
Underperformed and underrated. IMHO he's right up there with Vierne and Widor
Superb
Breathtaking.
Tremendous recording.
You must get a huge Adrenalin rush from playing. Superb performance yet again, and as for the Cavaille Coll reeds. Heaven! Excellent page turning from Caroline. Wow, just wow.
Richard, this is stunning! I love the dense harmony, the minor key, the transformations in the multiple dimension in which you and this organ interact. The bass pipes of this are played throughout. Fascinating. A little major key or major ish key creeps in. Does it have legs to Preval? Nope minor key is back big time. Bits of major key here and there. Effective use of woodwind stop in high register. Back to big time minor key. Assertive. Toccata style playing. Some quiet introspective major ish harmonies creeping in indecisively. Big pipes are back in assertive mode. This must be a truly fun piece to play on this particular organ. Pastorale movement in quiet expectant, fading into nothingness, as if sleeping potion befell every pipe in the organ all at once. 4th movement. Assertive fast movement Fabulous in every way.Hypnotic in its power.
Sir Richard McVeigh,
What a relaxing tempo you use throughout the Sonata and what a glorious sample set...
please recommend similar music. This music is very epic, expressive and beautiful!
Yes!
What a super sound!😀
Wow this is incredibly underrated.
Greetings fromSavannah Georgia. 🌴
What a magnificent concert Richard! The sound is amazing and thank you for sharing your talent with me.🤩
Richard, This particular piece is Amazing to hear, your performance, is outstanding. At some future time could play this Composer Sonate Op92 1 thru. 4. It would be spectacular if it can be done. Thank You Sir.
Oh Maestro, this is so incredibly beautiful and soul touching. You have such a sense of color and your registrations are brilliant. I am an organist, and I can't help but be in awe of your supple pedal technique. I am not adroit at playing in stocking feet, but each of us has a particular preference. Although on a flat pedalboard it might be better. Do you play in socks/stockings on concave AGO pedalboard as well? This is a beautiful instrument, as Cavaille-Colls all are. Have you played at St. Sulpice before? That is another of my favorites to listen to. Anyway, this interpretation was brilliant,
Yes.
👍🏻
Como é bom ouvir uma majestosa peça no andamento correto.
Merci!
Awesome! 👏👏👏👏
Super!!!
OMG! How absolutely delicious! MERCI MILLE FOIS...monsieur.
Amazing sonorities, outstanding performance.
Thanks Joe
BRAVO!!!
Tom from the Midwest region of the United States. Grand choice of organs for this piece. Richard really brings out the capabilities of this organ. What he couldn’t do is try to equal this organ with the 3 manual Austin from my church even with the 7 second reverberation. Richard, you are the best in my books.
Oh la la quelle merveille !
Stunning! It's so appropriate for the Guilmant sonata!
Thank you :)
HUGE indeed. Nancy is done great justice. Thank you as always Sir Richard and Lady Caroline. And speaking of huge, how much does Prince Hugo Herbert weigh now? He will need to grow to reach the fourth manual on the new console.
I think he’s about 12.5lbs. Almost as heavy as me!
what has become of the original cavaillé-coll console of this 1861 instrument ???
Wonder if Guilmant wrote choral works. There are moments in the sonata when a melody seems right for singing. Altogether enjoyable music perfectly expressed by Richard.
My thanks and admiration are incorporated in other's comments.
So, my question is: how long did it take you to set the registrations? This can be an aspect of performance much overlooked by the listener. As a retired organist I'm interested to know. One only has to look at St Sulpice videos to see the registrants working from prepared sheets to appreciate the complexity.
Loving this. From Jacksonville FL, greetings
Oh my. 👏👏👏
Thank you, that's very good performance. Did you add some additional reverb for this recording or updated the front/near/wet/dry setting here, because the organ sounds richier, more powerful here.
Wow!
Took the word right out of my mouth! :)
Amazing performance! Something about this sample set just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it is just placebo effect? Perhaps the reverb isn't quite natural? I don't know.
Still sounds absolutely mega! Your playing is excellent.
How you can make by digital technique of a small 3 keyboard organ a huge 4 manuals Caivaille - Coll organ
Beautiful played.
🙏 thanks Ralph .
Greetings fromHoorn Nh. 🇳🇱 the Netherlands also for your wonderful family and your lovely son now.
It’s magic, Ralph! 😃
6:16- 7:36 is my favorite part of the whole sonata!
It’s a lovely moment isn’t it! I hope you liked the way I played it 😊
I loved it!
Played beautifully
Phew!
Wow ! Spectaculair play, registrations, great sound ! Just love this French music ! May I suggest you play the 5th Sonata next. Also very spectaculair !
I’ll see what I can do. I was hoping to learn No 3 next
It makes me feel better seeing that you too, with all your talent, must learn such pieces. I take my hat off to you sir. Wonderful stuff. Thank you.
Does McVeigh have a website or contact info ? He is very talented organist.
I don't have a personal website, but my email address is in the description of every video on the channel :)
Have you added reverb to you system?
OK, I LOVE the reverb on Nancy but... I already have the Metz, Grand Symphonic and Aristide Cavaille Col... all 3 being CC samples and wondering and would love your opinion: Is Nancy worth getting since I already have 3 CC samples??? Thanks Richard!
As I don’t have any of those, I can’t really advise you. All I can is, I love Nancy and I look forward to performing more pieces on it in the future. I’m doing a live demonstration of the organ on Saturday - it’d be worth tuning into that for a fuller picture.
Hi, I have all the CC's sample sets, but I don't suggest you buy the Nancy, I used it in these days, I'm really unhappy with it. Actually the best one is Caen, there was an extension (4 keyboards) which used to improve it a lot. It was magical and the sound was very natural. Unluckily I can't find it anymore in my folders. At the moment I'm using Dudelange, Essen, St. Bavo and Prytanée, they are the best Hauptwerk sample sets, in terms of quality and naturality of the sound.
Stuning! 😍 Love it! Well done! Also the sampel set ist amazing! In quality which is rare! I think you can‘t compare it with Cean, because those are still two different organs, and every one is different. I think Cean has a bit more the typical snarli fat sound of a Cavaillé-Coll.😃 Will you still play the Cean sampel set?
I will, and in fact I was playing it today with the latest update 😊
@@beautyinsound Great! 🤩 Do you hear, that the surround in Ocean was made additionally afterwards?
Very good, idiomatic playing and registration. Even though you're British ;-) (there isn't an emoji for toungue-in-cheek)
I can't tell from the comments if people realize you're playing an electronic reproduction of the Nancy organ -- not the organ itself.
It came by once more. That old Viscount didn't sound that bad at all!!
2:06
I am not sure but the pedal seems to be a bit "heavy" and because of this a bit mufled when i hear on the phones...😯
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
This sounds more like it....................
It's an amazing sound, isn't it!
RicharsvCan you please read my comment on the previous video😄
*Richard
This organ owns 61 keys keyboards, but only 54 keys play. It is a pity for some works.
Great playing but in my opinion the sampleset sounds like a british organ
British organist with "British" registration choices............
@@davidwright640 even in the grabowski video where you see that all the stops are pulled it seems like the reeds are too mellow
An. Interesting observation! Which English organ in particular?
Definitely French Cavaille-Coll sounds. I lived for a time in Paris. Willis liked C-Coll's work but never hot the reeds quite as free. Also, British Churches do not have the reverberation to take the C-Coll flue treatment, nor the placing in the building.
@@davidwright640 I disagree, I thought the registration was really idiomatic - as you'd expect from Richard tbh. There are a large number of 'British' organists who understand what is idiomatic for this repertoire and organ.
The opening section where the Bombarde manual is added to the chords was possibly not as big a hit as one would want but I think that's down to the lack of 'fire' in the reeds which is itself possibly due to the acoustic / reverb.
I think that we need to remember that a sampleset will never fully capture the live sound that you'd get if you were in Nancy (although of course where to stand/sit is always a challenge) but I think this is a very fine piece of work from Piotr and very well demonstrated by Richard.
That’s not that huge lol only 3 manuals
🤣
Is he really pedal-playing in his socks ???🤣🤣
2:06