Grigny: Premier livre d’orgue (À l’orgue de la cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Poitiers)

On February 26th we will commemorate the tenth anniversary of the passing of Marie-Claire Alain, the greatest organist of the 20th-century. Her vertiginous discography was mostly recorded for Erato and is an impressive capture of the history of organ music. In particular, she revived numerous old French masters from the Baroque era who had fallen into neglect. Nicolas de Grigny, for example, composed an innovative organ book Bach himself loved very much and might have gone on to be considered the greatest French organ composer of all had he not died at only thirty. This complete recording of his Premier livre d’orgue comes with alternating plainchant verses as intended during a religious service.