Dabringhaus & Grimm seems to specialize in recording complete organ music and their ongoing series featuring Rheinberger and Dupré are surely to be recommended. This latest Dupré offering brings some of the composer's best works from his vast repertoire played with pomp and grandeur by the indefatigable Ben van Oosten.
The Fifteen Pieces are short but very profound works that show Dupré's great religious devotion in various settings of Antiphons, Magnificats and Ave Maris Stella's. each is given a particular turn of phrase, not unlike Bach's Chorale Preludes and they are very well played by Van Oosten. The short Elevation is also a powerful piece that demonstrates the variety of Dupré's organ inspiration.
Psaume XVIII is a titanic piece that concludes the disc with suitable force and also can be seen as one of Dupré's best works. Van Oosten is obviously aware of this and he brings down a titanic performance using the massive resources of the Rouen organ at his disposal. There's also room for the Seventy-nine Chorales, another collection of short pieces.
Earlier issues in this mammoth series always provided great enjoyment and this fifth volume is now less recommendable. The sound in Rouen is suitably apocalyptic whilst van Oosten's interpretations never fall below the average.
Copyright © 2003, Gerald Fenech