Prelude in Eb Op. 41 No. 1 - Alexandre Guilmant // Landau St Maria

The Parisian concert organist and composer, Alexandre Guilmant, was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer to a family of organists and organ builders. Largely self-taught, he studied for a short period with Lemmens, the great Belgian organist. Although he held the position as organist at La Trinité in Paris, it was in the concert hall where he achieved fame. He was received by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and achieved many honours in the course of his career.
His twelve volume collection L'organiste pratique is a treasure trove of pieces for all organists, the second volume published shortly before his mighty Organ Sonata No. 1. The opening Prelude in Eb is a wonderfully serene and evocative piece registered for "tous les jeux des fonds". Guilmant shows his mastery of late romantic harmonies in this piece, skilfully modulating as far a Gb major before whisking the listener back to the home key in just two bars.
With its plethora of gorgeous strings and rich foundation stops, the 1924 Steinmeyer organ in the church of St Maria in Landau (sampled for Hauptwerk by ‪@PiotrGrabowski_Organs‬ was an irresistible choice for this piece.
Organ detail: piotrgrabowski...
#hauptwerk #piotrgrabowski #landau
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Thank you for watching. 😀
Marcus

[@RalphLooij]

A beautiful warm embracing sound, also thanks to your fine sensitive playing. Thanks for sharing, Marcus.

[@MarcusReeves]

Thanks, Ralph!

[@james.flores]

Thanks for recording and playing this beautiful piece by Guilmant! The fonds sound fantastic!

[@MarcusReeves]

Many thanks!

[@philipaggesen]

Like a fine good wine. Well played and kudos to your well thought out cinematography 🎉

[@MarcusReeves]

Thanks very much, Philip.

[@MarkusDrejaOrganist]

What a great rendition. Love your playing and the incredible good video performance

[@MarcusReeves]

Thank you very much!

[@RienSchalkwijk]

It’s amazing that most French romantic music fits very well on this German instrument. Maybe even more than German Romantic music… well played. This is a lovely piece.

[@MarcusReeves]

Thank you, Rien. I agree that this is a fine instrument for French romantic music.

[@jeandominiquePasquet]

Belle musique et belles chaussettes.

[@MarcusReeves]

Merci beaucoup!

[@thomaslai5303]

A touching piece, thank you Marcus.

[@MarcusReeves]

Thank you!

[@nakorganist]

What a beautifully calm sound, Alexandre Guilmant wrote fantastic compositions, unfortunately they are much too difficult for me. Many thanks, dear Marcus, for the very sensitive recording. Kind regards, Roland

[@MarcusReeves]

Thanks for listening, Roland. I’m sure you could play them too!

[@ColinHarvey78]

Nice! 👍

[@MarcusReeves]

Thanks, Colin.

[@johngirvin3671]

A beautiful performance. A beautiful organ, too. It shows you that certain rep really needs to be played on the proper instrument (and acoustic).

[@MarcusReeves]

Thank you!