Tournemire...

[giovannimusica]

I always find it interesting that the music of Tournemire isn't as well-known as it should be. He really is the most important organ composer between Franck and Widor. His L'Orgue Mystique puts him at least on par with Bach in organ compositions. He has also written some glorious piano music. His Preludes are real gems - Georges Delvallee has recorded them on the Universal label. Of course, alot of people know his Cinq Improvisations for organ - they're are almost programmed too often in the recital repertoire. He has written Nine Symphonies, A huge Oratorio called Il Poverello di Assisi which sprawls out to almost a thousand pages of music and lots of other goodies. Maybe a musicologist on this forum would care to comment.

Giovanni

 

[acc]

Eight symphonies, actually. Quite beautiful - sometimes quite monumental, too.

So far, two conductors have recorded them:
<ul type="square">[*]Pierre Bartholomée and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège (#3,5,6,7,8)
[*]Antonio de Almeida and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra (all except #6)
[/list]
I prefer Bartholomée (no, no, him being a compatriote of mine has nothing to do with it

). My favourite symphonies would be #2 ("Ouessant") and #7 ("Les Danses de la Vie").

 

[giovannimusica]

Hi acc,

I stand corrected - eight symphonies it is

The Bartholomee renditions are the better ones in my mind.

Cheers,

Giovanni