FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 36/5

JULIAN BRET, RAMON LAZKANO, MAX PINCHARD, FRANÇOIS VERCKEN, DIMITRI YANOV-YANOVSKY, Diabolus Festivus. Les Editions du Chant du Monde (ORG 4325), 31-33, rue Vandrezanne, 75013 Paris (Phone 01 53 80 38 01, Fax 01 53 80 12 18, jjouvanceau@chantdumonde.com). The title is not so much an homage to the devil as an indication of the intent and purport of this collection, commissioned by Les Editions du Monde as musica profana rather than musica sacra, and indeed, Julian Bret’s opening piece “La Ronde des Lutins” is pure spoof, replete with quotations from circus music and from “Popeye.” The “Sorgindantza” by Ramon Lazkano contains tricky harmonies, trickier rhythms, and is very much in the spirit of Vierne’s “Fantômes.” “Spirale” by Max Pinchard begins slowly and intensely, but the main section is a lively 6/8 which achieves considerable interest and color in spite of its essentially diatonic “white-note” formulations. François Vercken’s “Dialogue de Sourds” is written in the best atonal manner, but is overly epigrammatic; there is only a single measure-long recurring idea throughout the piece, and the longest sustained idea runs only about 16 measures. Finally, “Elf and Mirror” by Dimitri Yanov-Yanovsky is true “elfen music,” a witty character piece, also in the atonal vein, with sputtering chromatic triplets and echo effects, dissonant chordal interjections, and pedal clusters.