Cavaillé-Coll

Messe Da Pacem

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Messe Da Pacem
Music by Pierre Villette, Yves Castagnet and Maurice Ravel
Choir of Royal Holloway, Rupert Gough
Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Notre-Dame d’Auteuil in Paris
Ad Fontes AF004. 75’27

Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte / Requiem æternam
Pierre Villette: Messe Da Pacem; Élévation; Hymne à la Vierge; Salutation angélique
Yves Castagnet: Messe Breve; Veni Sancte Spiritus


This recording from the Choir of Royal Holloway brings together three composers spanning 20th-century France, including arrangements of the Ravel and Villette Messe Da Pacem by the choir’s director, Rupert Gough. It was recorded in the summer of 2019 (apparently in sweltering heat) in the church of Notre-Dame d’Auteuil in Paris, using the important newly restored Cavaillé-Coll organ, originally completed in 1855 with an inaugural recital given by Widor.

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Prières pour Notre Dame

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Prières pour Notre Dame
Music for organ and upper voices
Colin Walsh – Cavaillé-Coll organ of St Ouen, Rouen 
Romsey Abbey Choir, George Richford
Regent REGCD538. 67’27


Dupré: Versets pour les Vêpres
Lili Boulanger: Pie Jesu
Demessieux: Rorate coeli,  Attende Domine
Poulenc: Litanies à la Vierge noire

This evocative recording features music by four French composers performed on the magnificent 1890 Cavaillé-Coll organ of St Ouen, Rouen, a former Benedictine foundation – as is Romsey Abbey in Hampshire, from where the Senior girls of the Romsey Abbey Choir (aged between 16 and 19) provide an ideal contrast to the power of the organ.

Rouen St Ouen organ

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