CESAR FRANCK: ORGAN MUSIC. Marie-Claire Alain, organ....

CESAR FRANCK: ORGAN MUSIC. Marie-Claire Alain, organ. Erato Records ECD 88110. From the opening passage of this CD, the listener is left in the grip of Alain’s playing. Her performances show an understanding of this organ music which owes much to Bach. Alain renders the various parts of each of the three chorales always in light of the whole. Because she reserves power in the middle of Chorale No. 3, the searching melody and shifting harmonies of that section create a Debussyan chasm separating the mighty Bachian walls which begin and end the work.