Charles Tournemire – Trinitas
Vincent Boucher
ATMA ACD2 2472
The organ music of Charles Tournemire (1870–1939) is a revelation. The youngest student of César Franck, Tournemire developed towards modernism with a mystical bent and was admired by Messiaen. The Triple Choral (1910) is a key work in his journey to individuality. Organist Vincent Boucher’s performance is well paced and his expressive rubato is tasteful. I was especially moved by the sense of growth in the stirring, ecstatic middle section, followed by the contrasting meditative ending. In conveying the tone-palette of Tournemire’s music, Boucher employs to full advantage the magnificent Casavant organ and acoustics of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Montreal; the sound on this recording is glorious.
The two other major works on the disc are Offices from L’Orgue Mystique (1927–1932), organ music for each Sunday in the liturgical year to be played between sung sections of the mass. In the first, for Trinity Sunday, Boucher handles confidently the final recessional with its colouristic wave-like opening and its working of three themes in the introspective mood characteristic of Tournemire’s later works. Boucher captures the improvisational feel of Tournemire’s style in the second — music that is unearthly at times, seemingly in-the-moment explorations conveying striking visions. Here tone-content, texture and timbre together produce myriad effects of light, of brilliant rays, glimmering pulsations, murky depths. Three brief Postludes for antiphons of the Magnificat round out this deeply reflective disc.
