August 2006

Finally, by mid-September, Biggs had everything safely in hand; and, within a few weeks, he had distilled the countless takes into a program for The Art of the Organ that would fill four LP sides. (See photos: Biggs editing . . . and editing . . . and editing.) In the second week of November, he received the proofs and, after giving them a critical listen, sent this exuberant note to Howard Scott, music director at Columbia Records: “The proofs are grand, and it’s certainly a wonderful achievement to get so much on the sides. Hooray, hooray!”19

During the two years I spent with her she frequently took me along to pull stops when she traveled to play recitals. Helping with registration on various organs in France and Holland and observing her perform were additional valuable learning experiences.

Going to Paris to study with Marie-Claire Alain was the best thing I ever did for myself. Not only did I learn so much from her, but we formed a close friendship which I cherish to this day.
Bon anniversaire à ma chère amie!

Buzard Pipe Organ Builders, LLC, Champaign, Illinois, Opus 33, 2006

St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Zionsville, Indiana

This is the third in a series of “organ lessons” by Jan-Piet Knijff. The first (“Bruhns’s ‘Little’ E-minor”) and second (“Hindemith Sonata No. 2, second movement”) appeared in the January and April 2006 issues of The Diapason, respectively.

Two years ago, a storm was suddenly triggered on the Internet: the Sainte-Clotilde organ was being “vandalized” . . . “impure hands were ravaging the Cavaillé-Coll masterpiece” that Jean Langlais had so respectfully preserved . . . Jacques Taddéi, titular organist of Sainte-Clotilde, was deemed responsible for the “sack of a sacred heritage” and put in the stocks. This turmoil spread in the United States with that fine sense of moderation that characterizes some organ circles; it did not arouse much interest in France except from a few quarters where Taddéi is hated for various reasons.

Part 1 of this series appeared in the July issue of The Diapason.

The Diapason is honored to offer the following tributes to Marie-Claire Alain on the occasion of her 80th birthday. Thanks to Stephen Hamilton for planning and organizing the tributes, for his contribution, and for the biographical introduction below, and thanks to the distinguished contributors to this 80th birthday fest.
—Jerome Butera

What do we say about what we play? How do we share the mystery, the excitement, the playfulness, the pathos of our music? How do we communicate our relationship with our instrument and its music to the listeners on whom we depend so much? We must present the organ and its music so as to raise the appreciation, awareness, and understanding of our audiences, and encourage their proselytizing.

Raymond J. Barnes, Charles M. Eve, Rolande Falcinelli, John Anthony Steppe, Henry VanSeters