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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

AVE MARIS STELLAGerard Gillen plays the music of

Flor PEETERS,César FRANCKThe Organ of St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral Dublin

LCSCD001

H i R e s

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

AVE MARIS STELLA Credits:

Executive Producer: L. Carrick-SmithProduced by Jonathan R.Wearn

Recorded in St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin 2008

Design: Hugh O’Donnell

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks to The Very Reverend Canon John Flaherty Administrator and the staff at St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral.

The recording was made using just 2 B & K 4006 microphones, Mongami Oxygen free cables, Millenia Pre-Amplifier, Prism ADA. 8 Convertersoriginally recorded and edited at 88.2kHz using Pyramix & Nuendo 4 Software.Monitored using Classe Amplifiers and B & W 801 speakers. No equalisation or other digital intervention has been made in this recordinguntil carefully down-sampling to 44.1kHz for the production of this CD.

www.lcshires.comenquiries@lcshires.com

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

Flor Peeters 1903 – 1986

1 Wachet auf! 4:56

2 O Gott, Du frommer Gott 2:41

3 Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern 2:58

Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur 'Ave Maris Stella'4 Toccata 3:37

5 Fugue 2:26

6 Hymne 1:45

7 Largo 3:38

8 Final 4:38

César Franck 1822 – 1890

Prelude, Fugue & Variation9 Prelude 3:55

10 Fugue 2:45

11 Variation 3:34

12 Pièce Héroïque 8:28

Grande Pièce Symphonique 13 Andantino serioso 10:27

14 Andante 8:22

15 Allegro non troppo e maestoso 6:54

Gerard Gillen - organThe Organ of St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral Dublin

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

THE MUSIC

César Franck (1822-1890) and Flor Peeters(1903-1986) share the same Franco-Belgianheritage: it was the former who rescued organcomposition from the nadir to which it hadsunk in the wake of the musical depredationsresulting from the French revolution, and itwas the latter who carried the torch, lit sobrilliantly by Franck (in turn inspired by themarvellously new and innovative instrumentsof Aristide Cavaillé-Coll) and mediated toPeeters through the common friendship andcollegiality of Charles Tournemire, into thelatter decades of the twentieth century. Franckexcised the musical frivolities of composerssuch as Lemmens, Lefébre-Wély and Batistefrom the French organ œuvre in endowing hisorgan compositions with a new sense of formalfibre expressed in a harmonic language thatwas both individual and very much of its timein its advanced explorations of chromaticism;Peeters followed very much in the sameaesthetic tradition, bringing to his work thefresh sound of twentieth-century dissonance,arrived at in the German manner throughhorizontal, contrapuntal application, ratherthan through vertically conceived harmonicopulence.

Peeters was a prolific composer for the organ,who counts over 300 chorale preludes amonghis compositions. The chorale prelude is amusical construct peculiar to the organ; it

emerged as a form in seventeenth-centuryGermany and has remained part of the staplediet of organ composers ever since. In essenceit is a composition based on a hymn tune andinspired by its text, which it seeks to exploreand encapsulate in musical expression. Thethree chorale preludes recorded here datefrom 1948 and appear in the composer’scollection of ‘Ten Chorale Preludes’, Op.68 onGerman chorale melodies. Wachet auf, ruft unsdie Stimme is based on the hymn tune byPhilipp Nicolai, a version of which was madefamous by JS Bach in both his Cantata No. 140and the subsequent transcription by thecomposer of the opening chorus as theeponymously titled Schübler chorale prelude.It has to be said that the shadow of Bach loomsover Peeters’ treatment, with the latter givingus a twentieth-century translation, as it were,of Bach’s justly famous composition. O Gott, dufrommer Gott, is a gem of soft and subtleRomantic expression, while Wie schön leuchtetder Morgenstern, based on Philipp Nicolai’sChristmas hymn, recalls Bach’s Nun freut euch,BWV 734 in its effervescent perpetuummobile manual figuration accompanying theunfolding of the tune on pedals at 4’ pitch.

Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur ‘Ave Maris Stella,Op. 28 was completed in 1931 and is dedicatedto Tournemire. It is one of the composer’slarger concepts and must be counted as one ofhis best compositions, marrying mastery ofsymmetry, variety and freshness of expression,

THE ORGANIST

Gerard Gillen has been Titular Organist ofDublin’s Pro-Cathedral since 1976 and isProfessor Emeritus of Music at the NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth, where he washead of Department from 1985 to 2007. He iswidely regarded as one of Ireland’s leadingchurch and concert organists. A First ClassHonours graduate University College, Dublin,Oxford University, and the Royal FlemishConservatoire of Music, Antwerp (where hegained the Prix d’Excellence, the highest awardfor instrumental performance, in the class ofFlor Peeters), Professor Gillen has given over900 recitals throughout Europe, Israel, andAmerica, performing in such prestigiousvenues as the Royal Festival Hall, London,King’s College, Cambridge, St Thomas’, NewYork, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Notre-Dame and La Madeleine, Paris, St Stephen’sCathedral, Vienna, St Thomas’, Leipzig, StBavo, Haarlem, cathedrals of Brussels,Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Pittsburgh, and majorrecital venues in Slovakia, Czech Republic,Poland, Estonia, Italy etc. He has also been amember of international competition juries inOxford, Ann Arbor, London and Dublin.

Gerard Gillen was founder-chairman of theDublin International Organ & Choral Festival(now the Pipeworks Festival) of which he wasartistic director from 1990 to 2000. In 1984 hewas conferred with Knighthood of St Gregory

(KCSG) by the Vatican, and in 2006 he wascreated a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres bythe French Government. He is currently chair ofthe National Advisory Committee on ChurchMusic to the Irish Episcopal Conference. Otherhonours include the John Betts VisitingFellowship at Oxford (1992); in December1996 he was nominated the classical winner inIreland’s annual TV National EntertainmentAwards, the first organist to be so honoured. In2007 he was awarded a doctorate honoriscausa by the Pontifical University of Maynooth.

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

with a vitality and compositional energy thatsustains the work unflaggingly throughout itslength. The Toccata, while following theFrench model with the ancient GregorianMarian melody announced in pedal tuttiagainst an accompaniment of bustling manualfiguration, recalls the Debussy of La Mer in itschanging rhythmic pulses and harmonicpiquancy. The fugue has a splendid sense ofshape and energy, while the concluding hymnbrings a sense of apotheosis to this finely hewncomposition.

Largo and Final are two of four piecespublished as Four Pieces, Op. 71 in 1949. Theyreveal an aspect of Peeters as a composer forsecular usage as opposed to the othercompositions discussed above whose primaryprovenance was liturgical. The Largo is a lyricalsolo for the trumpet stop which is given awide-ranging melody extending over threeoctaves, accompanied by sustained innervoices with pizzicato pedal. The language hereis remarkably conservative for a mid twentieth-century work, and the entire compositionrecalls the Geist world of Bach’s Adagiomovement in the Toccata in C, BWV 564. TheFinal is a hard-driven Lydian mode toccata verymuch in French style, with theme in pedals,and with each reiteration ratching the musicaltemperature upwards to final climax whichexplodes in a virtuoso eruption in the pedals.

César Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation

was published as the third of Six Pièces in 1868,a publication that marked a substantialrevolution in style within the history of Frenchorgan music. In many ways this compositionbroke new ground in the prelude and fuguetype of composition: the prelude presents alilting lyrical melody in characteristic solo Swellregistration of Bourdon, Flûte de 8 andHautbois, complete with canonic imitation sobeloved of this composer. A characteristicinterlude introducing Fonds on all manualswith the Swell Anches leads to a sombre huedfugue, though marked Allegretto, ma nontroppo, before unexpectedly returning to thetheme of the prelude for an exquisite variationmovement. Truly, a prelude and fugue witha difference.

The Pièce Héroïque was the third of TroisPièces which Franck composed expressly for hisrecital on the new four-manual Cavaillé-Collorgan of the Trocadéro Palace on 1 October,1878. It is a highly orchestrally flavouredcomposition, the main theme of which isannounced in the tenor register to theaccompaniment of pulsating chords on fullSwell. A colourful composition, sombre andeven threatening in character, it uses a widepalette of symphonic organ registration, andproceeds to its organically driven climax withpowerful effect.

The Grande Pièce Symphonique was publishedas the second of the six pieces of Six Pièces in

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

1868. It was to be the composer’s largest scalework for organ, and a composition in cyclicalform that not only foreshadowed Franck’s onean only essay in orchestral symphonic writing,his Symphony in D Minor, but it also served asthe prototype for later organ symphonies byGuilmant, Widor and Vierne. It was thus ahighly innovative and influential compositioncalling for the full resources of colour providedby the new Cavaillé-Coll instrument of StClotilde. The work begins not with theexpected symphonic ‘Allegro’, but with an‘Andantino serioso’ leading to an ‘Allegro nontroppo e maestoso’ for Grand Chœur wherethe main theme is revealed in all its glory. Twodelicious Andante movements are interspersedamong the many ruminative digressions, thesecond of which calls for a delightful dialoguebetween the Voix célestes of the Récit and thePositif. The final ‘Allegro non troppo emaestoso’, containing fragments heard earlierin the work, lead to the fugal finale with thetempo increasing as the musical excitementmounts to bring this extraordinary essay to aliterally blazing conclusion.

THE ORGAN

Dublin’s Roman Catholic Pro - Cathedral,dedicated to the Blessed Virgin under the titleof St Mary, was opened in 1825 and is built inclassical Greek style in a copy of the ParisianBasilica of St Philippe de Roule. It is a church,though small for its cathedral function, with awarm and generous acoustic, particularlysuited to organ sound and its projection. Thepresent organ’s origins date from the 1880swhen a contract was entrusted to the Dublinbut French-trained organ builder, John White.The present façade of the organ dated fromWilliam Hill’s rebuild of the instrument c. 1900.Subsequent work was carried out by HenryWillis & Co in the 1930s before J.W. Walker’smajor rebuilds of 1971, and 1995 when someadditional stops were added. This latter workwas carried out in the context of an overallredecoration of the Pro-Cathedral.

Over the years the Pro-Cathedral organ hasbecome regarded as one of the finestexamples in Ireland of the late nineteenth-century grand Romantic organ, and has sinceits original installation featured prominently inthe many national liturgical occasions, whichhave graced the cathedral church. Morerecently many of the finest organ recitalists ofour time have performed on this instrument:Daniel Chorzempa, Xavier Darasse, SusanLandale, Olivier Latry, Daniel Roth, DameGillian Weir, Arthur Wills etc.

SPECIFICATION

SWELL GREAT PEDAL POSITIVE

Gedeckt 8 Lieblich Bourdon 16 Double Open Diapason 32 Rohr Flute 8Salicional 8 Open Diapason 1 8 Principal 16 Spitz Flute 4Celeste 8 Open Diapason 11 8 Bourdon 16 Principal * 4Flute * 4 Stopped Diapason 8 Bass Flute 8 Octave 2Principal 4 Principal 4 Octave 8 Nazard + 22/3

Fifteenth 2 Fifteenth 2 Fifteenth + 4 Tierce+ 13/5

Scharf + III Mixture + III Flute + 4 Larigot + 11/3

Oboe 8 Sesquialtera + II Mixture + III Cymbal + IIIFagotto + 16 Trumpet 8 Fagot 16 Cromorne + 8Trumpet 8 Clarion 4 Schalmei + 4 Cor Anglais * 8 Clarion * 4Tremulant TremulantOctaveSub OctaveUnison Off

Swell/Great Swell/Pedal Swell/PositivePositive/Great Great/Pedal

Positive/Pedal

Usual accessories with multiple channels + Sequencer.

* Stops added in 1995+ Stops added or altered in 1971

Gerard Gillen ©

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

1868. It was to be the composer’s largest scalework for organ, and a composition in cyclicalform that not only foreshadowed Franck’s onean only essay in orchestral symphonic writing,his Symphony in D Minor, but it also served asthe prototype for later organ symphonies byGuilmant, Widor and Vierne. It was thus ahighly innovative and influential compositioncalling for the full resources of colour providedby the new Cavaillé-Coll instrument of StClotilde. The work begins not with theexpected symphonic ‘Allegro’, but with an‘Andantino serioso’ leading to an ‘Allegro nontroppo e maestoso’ for Grand Chœur wherethe main theme is revealed in all its glory. Twodelicious Andante movements are interspersedamong the many ruminative digressions, thesecond of which calls for a delightful dialoguebetween the Voix célestes of the Récit and thePositif. The final ‘Allegro non troppo emaestoso’, containing fragments heard earlierin the work, lead to the fugal finale with thetempo increasing as the musical excitementmounts to bring this extraordinary essay to aliterally blazing conclusion.

THE ORGAN

Dublin’s Roman Catholic Pro - Cathedral,dedicated to the Blessed Virgin under the titleof St Mary, was opened in 1825 and is built inclassical Greek style in a copy of the ParisianBasilica of St Philippe de Roule. It is a church,though small for its cathedral function, with awarm and generous acoustic, particularlysuited to organ sound and its projection. Thepresent organ’s origins date from the 1880swhen a contract was entrusted to the Dublinbut French-trained organ builder, John White.The present façade of the organ dated fromWilliam Hill’s rebuild of the instrument c. 1900.Subsequent work was carried out by HenryWillis & Co in the 1930s before J.W. Walker’smajor rebuilds of 1971, and 1995 when someadditional stops were added. This latter workwas carried out in the context of an overallredecoration of the Pro-Cathedral.

Over the years the Pro-Cathedral organ hasbecome regarded as one of the finestexamples in Ireland of the late nineteenth-century grand Romantic organ, and has sinceits original installation featured prominently inthe many national liturgical occasions, whichhave graced the cathedral church. Morerecently many of the finest organ recitalists ofour time have performed on this instrument:Daniel Chorzempa, Xavier Darasse, SusanLandale, Olivier Latry, Daniel Roth, DameGillian Weir, Arthur Wills etc.

SPECIFICATION

SWELL GREAT PEDAL POSITIVE

Gedeckt 8 Lieblich Bourdon 16 Double Open Diapason 32 Rohr Flute 8Salicional 8 Open Diapason 1 8 Principal 16 Spitz Flute 4Celeste 8 Open Diapason 11 8 Bourdon 16 Principal * 4Flute * 4 Stopped Diapason 8 Bass Flute 8 Octave 2Principal 4 Principal 4 Octave 8 Nazard + 22/3

Fifteenth 2 Fifteenth 2 Fifteenth + 4 Tierce+ 13/5

Scharf + III Mixture + III Flute + 4 Larigot + 11/3

Oboe 8 Sesquialtera + II Mixture + III Cymbal + IIIFagotto + 16 Trumpet 8 Fagot 16 Cromorne + 8Trumpet 8 Clarion 4 Schalmei + 4 Cor Anglais * 8 Clarion * 4Tremulant TremulantOctaveSub OctaveUnison Off

Swell/Great Swell/Pedal Swell/PositivePositive/Great Great/Pedal

Positive/Pedal

Usual accessories with multiple channels + Sequencer.

* Stops added in 1995+ Stops added or altered in 1971

Gerard Gillen ©

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

with a vitality and compositional energy thatsustains the work unflaggingly throughout itslength. The Toccata, while following theFrench model with the ancient GregorianMarian melody announced in pedal tuttiagainst an accompaniment of bustling manualfiguration, recalls the Debussy of La Mer in itschanging rhythmic pulses and harmonicpiquancy. The fugue has a splendid sense ofshape and energy, while the concluding hymnbrings a sense of apotheosis to this finely hewncomposition.

Largo and Final are two of four piecespublished as Four Pieces, Op. 71 in 1949. Theyreveal an aspect of Peeters as a composer forsecular usage as opposed to the othercompositions discussed above whose primaryprovenance was liturgical. The Largo is a lyricalsolo for the trumpet stop which is given awide-ranging melody extending over threeoctaves, accompanied by sustained innervoices with pizzicato pedal. The language hereis remarkably conservative for a mid twentieth-century work, and the entire compositionrecalls the Geist world of Bach’s Adagiomovement in the Toccata in C, BWV 564. TheFinal is a hard-driven Lydian mode toccata verymuch in French style, with theme in pedals,and with each reiteration ratching the musicaltemperature upwards to final climax whichexplodes in a virtuoso eruption in the pedals.

César Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation

was published as the third of Six Pièces in 1868,a publication that marked a substantialrevolution in style within the history of Frenchorgan music. In many ways this compositionbroke new ground in the prelude and fuguetype of composition: the prelude presents alilting lyrical melody in characteristic solo Swellregistration of Bourdon, Flûte de 8 andHautbois, complete with canonic imitation sobeloved of this composer. A characteristicinterlude introducing Fonds on all manualswith the Swell Anches leads to a sombre huedfugue, though marked Allegretto, ma nontroppo, before unexpectedly returning to thetheme of the prelude for an exquisite variationmovement. Truly, a prelude and fugue witha difference.

The Pièce Héroïque was the third of TroisPièces which Franck composed expressly for hisrecital on the new four-manual Cavaillé-Collorgan of the Trocadéro Palace on 1 October,1878. It is a highly orchestrally flavouredcomposition, the main theme of which isannounced in the tenor register to theaccompaniment of pulsating chords on fullSwell. A colourful composition, sombre andeven threatening in character, it uses a widepalette of symphonic organ registration, andproceeds to its organically driven climax withpowerful effect.

The Grande Pièce Symphonique was publishedas the second of the six pieces of Six Pièces in

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

THE MUSIC

César Franck (1822-1890) and Flor Peeters(1903-1986) share the same Franco-Belgianheritage: it was the former who rescued organcomposition from the nadir to which it hadsunk in the wake of the musical depredationsresulting from the French revolution, and itwas the latter who carried the torch, lit sobrilliantly by Franck (in turn inspired by themarvellously new and innovative instrumentsof Aristide Cavaillé-Coll) and mediated toPeeters through the common friendship andcollegiality of Charles Tournemire, into thelatter decades of the twentieth century. Franckexcised the musical frivolities of composerssuch as Lemmens, Lefébre-Wély and Batistefrom the French organ œuvre in endowing hisorgan compositions with a new sense of formalfibre expressed in a harmonic language thatwas both individual and very much of its timein its advanced explorations of chromaticism;Peeters followed very much in the sameaesthetic tradition, bringing to his work thefresh sound of twentieth-century dissonance,arrived at in the German manner throughhorizontal, contrapuntal application, ratherthan through vertically conceived harmonicopulence.

Peeters was a prolific composer for the organ,who counts over 300 chorale preludes amonghis compositions. The chorale prelude is amusical construct peculiar to the organ; it

emerged as a form in seventeenth-centuryGermany and has remained part of the staplediet of organ composers ever since. In essenceit is a composition based on a hymn tune andinspired by its text, which it seeks to exploreand encapsulate in musical expression. Thethree chorale preludes recorded here datefrom 1948 and appear in the composer’scollection of ‘Ten Chorale Preludes’, Op.68 onGerman chorale melodies. Wachet auf, ruft unsdie Stimme is based on the hymn tune byPhilipp Nicolai, a version of which was madefamous by JS Bach in both his Cantata No. 140and the subsequent transcription by thecomposer of the opening chorus as theeponymously titled Schübler chorale prelude.It has to be said that the shadow of Bach loomsover Peeters’ treatment, with the latter givingus a twentieth-century translation, as it were,of Bach’s justly famous composition. O Gott, dufrommer Gott, is a gem of soft and subtleRomantic expression, while Wie schön leuchtetder Morgenstern, based on Philipp Nicolai’sChristmas hymn, recalls Bach’s Nun freut euch,BWV 734 in its effervescent perpetuummobile manual figuration accompanying theunfolding of the tune on pedals at 4’ pitch.

Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur ‘Ave Maris Stella,Op. 28 was completed in 1931 and is dedicatedto Tournemire. It is one of the composer’slarger concepts and must be counted as one ofhis best compositions, marrying mastery ofsymmetry, variety and freshness of expression,

THE ORGANIST

Gerard Gillen has been Titular Organist ofDublin’s Pro-Cathedral since 1976 and isProfessor Emeritus of Music at the NationalUniversity of Ireland, Maynooth, where he washead of Department from 1985 to 2007. He iswidely regarded as one of Ireland’s leadingchurch and concert organists. A First ClassHonours graduate University College, Dublin,Oxford University, and the Royal FlemishConservatoire of Music, Antwerp (where hegained the Prix d’Excellence, the highest awardfor instrumental performance, in the class ofFlor Peeters), Professor Gillen has given over900 recitals throughout Europe, Israel, andAmerica, performing in such prestigiousvenues as the Royal Festival Hall, London,King’s College, Cambridge, St Thomas’, NewYork, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Notre-Dame and La Madeleine, Paris, St Stephen’sCathedral, Vienna, St Thomas’, Leipzig, StBavo, Haarlem, cathedrals of Brussels,Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Pittsburgh, and majorrecital venues in Slovakia, Czech Republic,Poland, Estonia, Italy etc. He has also been amember of international competition juries inOxford, Ann Arbor, London and Dublin.

Gerard Gillen was founder-chairman of theDublin International Organ & Choral Festival(now the Pipeworks Festival) of which he wasartistic director from 1990 to 2000. In 1984 hewas conferred with Knighthood of St Gregory

(KCSG) by the Vatican, and in 2006 he wascreated a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres bythe French Government. He is currently chair ofthe National Advisory Committee on ChurchMusic to the Irish Episcopal Conference. Otherhonours include the John Betts VisitingFellowship at Oxford (1992); in December1996 he was nominated the classical winner inIreland’s annual TV National EntertainmentAwards, the first organist to be so honoured. In2007 he was awarded a doctorate honoriscausa by the Pontifical University of Maynooth.

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

Flor Peeters 1903 – 1986

1 Wachet auf! 4:56

2 O Gott, Du frommer Gott 2:41

3 Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern 2:58

Toccata, Fugue et Hymne sur 'Ave Maris Stella'4 Toccata 3:37

5 Fugue 2:26

6 Hymne 1:45

7 Largo 3:38

8 Final 4:38

César Franck 1822 – 1890

Prelude, Fugue & Variation9 Prelude 3:55

10 Fugue 2:45

11 Variation 3:34

12 Pièce Héroïque 8:28

Grande Pièce Symphonique 13 Andantino serioso 10:27

14 Andante 8:22

15 Allegro non troppo e maestoso 6:54

Gerard Gillen - organThe Organ of St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral Dublin

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LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

AVE MARIS STELLA Credits:

Executive Producer: L. Carrick-SmithProduced by Jonathan R.Wearn

Recorded in St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin 2008

Design: Hugh O’Donnell

Acknowledgements

Special Thanks to The Very Reverend Canon John Flaherty Administrator and the staff at St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral.

The recording was made using just 2 B & K 4006 microphones, Mongami Oxygen free cables, Millenia Pre-Amplifier, Prism ADA. 8 Convertersoriginally recorded and edited at 88.2kHz using Pyramix & Nuendo 4 Software.Monitored using Classe Amplifiers and B & W 801 speakers. No equalisation or other digital intervention has been made in this recordinguntil carefully down-sampling to 44.1kHz for the production of this CD.

www.lcshires.comenquiries@lcshires.com

C M Y K

12 1

LCS CD001Gerard GillenAve Maris Stella

AVE MARIS STELLAGerard Gillen plays the music of

Flor PEETERS,César FRANCKThe Organ of St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral Dublin

LCSCD001

H i R e s