pcnd5584
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Does there exist another church as ballyhooed as Notre Dame?
I ran across a tape that I burned to a CD of one of their organists (not sure which, there are about five) doing an improvisation that goes on for about ten minutes.
Of course, that organ is not the Cavaille-Coll that Vierne knew - and died at. The C-C was replaced with an electric action one back in the 1960's.
Following the death of Pierre Cochereau (5/03/84), four organists were appointed, as the result of a competition: Yves Devernay, Olivier Latry, Jean-Pierre Leguay and Philippe Léfébvre. Sadly, Yves Devernay himself died in 1990, so there remain three organists who play on rotation. (The Titulaire of the Orgue du Choeur *, Yves Castagnet also plays for Sunday masses once or twice a year (according to the last rota which I saw.)
As Corno Dolce has written, the Cavaillé-Coll instrument at Nôtre-Dame de Paris has been altered (not replaced) many times. In fact, in the most recent restoration, which took place between 1990-92, an attempt was made to recapture the essence of the sound of the previous instrument. How successful this was, one must judge for oneself. However, it cannot be denied that the organ in its present incarnation is an extremely versatile and capable instrument.
For the sake of accuracy, Vierne did collapse at the old console (whilst giving a recital for Les Amis de l'Orgue on 2/06/37) - but actually died shortly afterwards in the large antechamber halfway up the south tower. 1
* This is one of only two full-time organists' posts in Paris, the other being that of Organiste Titulaire, Nôtre-Dame d'Auteuil - which is currently held by Frédéric Blanc (formerly Organiste-assistant, at the Basilica of S. Sernin, Toulouse: http://blanc.organiste.free.fr/).
1 Cited by Jean Fellon (in whose arms Vierne died) p. 422 - 3, Louis Vierne: Organist of Nôtre-Dame Cathedral - Rollin Smith. Pendragon Press, 1999.
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