FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 33/7

It is wrong to call this work a symphony, and the mystères

in the title represent religious mysteries, not musical ones.

The chant is employed throughout in alternation with fifteen

slow movements for the organ. These divide neatly into three

groups, marked Joyeux, Douloureux, and Glorieux, respectively.

Though conceived for a festive performance lasting nearly one

hour complete with the chant, these 35 minutes of contemplative

organ music will readily lend themselves to other uses as well.

The neo-Romantic harmonic palette recalls the style of Dom Paul

Benoit--richly evocative, with a distinct Roman Catholic ambiance--

but these pieces are more tightly structured and more freely linear

than in Benoit. The occasional bitonalisms and atonalisms should

probably be worked through, rather than sight-read, but otherwise,

the technical demands are not great. The individual movements deal

strictly with one affect at a time; in other words, they are

non-dramatic and non-symphonic in character. The overall

expressive quality, if somewhat constrained and etude-like, is richly

atmospheric nonetheless. Some long-range architectural symmetry

comes into play in that the opening Serenade reappears at the end,

and that the movement at the very center, La couronne d'epines, is

a ground bass; also, in that the two most etude-like pieces, Les

coupes and Les blessures, immediately precede and follow this

central movement. The organ layout (always with obbligato pedal)

is satisfying and idiomatic, since the composer understands

the organ well. It is regretable that this is his sole organ work

within an otherwise extensive catalog in Editions Max Eschig.