Alain, Jehan (1933): Première fantaisie pour orgue “Omar Khayyám”, JA 72 — Christophe Mantoux

Описание: Composer: Jehan-Arist[id]e Paul Alain (3 February 1911 – 20 June 1940)
Organist: Christophe Mantoux
Organ: Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1890), Abbaye Saint Ouen de Rouen

Work in the public domain since 1 January 2011

nota bene - 3:11 processing error
First fantasia for organ “Omar Khayyám”, JA 72
0:00 - Introduction
0:11 - Énergique, très libre de rythme (♪ = 168 environ)
4:16 - Lent
Note: if a brace is indicated on a single stave for a system, then the lower unbracketed one plays the pedal.

This work, in diptych, is the first of a duo of two fantasias for organ by Jehan Alain, a French composer and martyr; the latter is available here as played by his sister Marie-Claire (presented with the score):
   • Jehan Alain - Deuxième fantaisie (1936)  
And by the same organist on the same instrument (no score; lower-quality audio, accompanied by photographs of Saint Ouen Abbey):
   • Jehan Alain - Deuxieme Fantaisie (Christop...  
It is dedicated to his brother Olivier, himself a composer and future musicologist; and was written in early 1933 when the composer was about to reach the age of twenty-two, a substantial lament addressed to the Divine.
According to the cover of the work's manuscript, the author has subtitled the striking piece “Omar Khayyám” (this, however, is not replicated commonly nor is it in the Leduc edition); as it illustrates a quatrain he paraphrased, written by the polymath, extracted from his 11th-century 'Rubaiyat':
« Alors au ciel lui-même je criai
Pour demander comment la destinée
Peut nous guider à travers les ténèbres
Et le ciel dit : "Suis ton aveugle instinct". »
Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried,
Asking, "What Lamp had Destiny to guide
"Her little Children stumbling in the Dark?"
And -- "A blind Understanding!" Heav'n replied.
(English translation by Edward Fitzgerald)
The following information is extracted from a programme note for a concert by Erwan le Prado:
We hear, systematically exploited, a single theme, first announced on tutti in the organ, this founding theme giving the work its unity (as is the case in a miniature passacaglia), theme taken up each time in a different rhythmic presentation, even totally distorted. The effect produced by these great clamors leading to an enigmatic response is exhilarating.
Sebastian Heindl elaborates:
The cry of distress emanating from the darkness is vigorously represented by the clamors of the great blocky chords at the beginning and the short sections alternating in a breathless rhythm. After an immense crescendo, the response from Heaven then comes in the calm form of a very soothing solo cantilena, with an exotic allure.

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As per the description of this channel, I do not own anything within this video. The music and performances have been uploaded for exclusively and entirely for the purposes of divulgation and spreading interest in music and the arts.