Toulouse’s Daurade Basilica inaugurates its large raised organ
The concert in the basilica on Wednesday is one of the events of the second week of the Toulouse Les Orgues festival, which takes place until October 17.
The event is rare and important for music lovers. This Wednesday, October 13 at 8:30 p.m., the resident organist of the Daurade Basilica Willem Jensen and the cellist Christophe Coin are giving a joint concert as part of the Toulouse Les Orgues festival. The opportunity to celebrate the great organ of the church, freshly raised.
While the term “lift” may seem vague to many, it simply refers to proper cleaning of the instrument. “Concretely, it’s like a car overhaul. It is a general maintenance which is done every twenty years»Explains Yves Rechsteiner, the passionate and fascinating artistic director of the festival. A technique not to be confused with the restoration that will “change the technical and sound characteristics, and can remove sounds that will alter the sound of the organ. With the lift, the instrument is left as it is»Explains the head of Toulouse Les Orgues.
Based in the Gers, Jean Daldosso is one of the few French factors, a craftsman specializing in the manufacture and maintenance of organs. He dusted off the sideboard and the imposing pipes that sit at La Daurade. A job that occupied a good part of its year 2020, and which consisted of “Make the instrument more reliable»In his own words. He adds that “the last disassembly of the instrument was not done in the best possible way. We took the opportunity to review a little what was done during the renovation. Elements had disappeared or had been modified.“
A transitional organ
The last lift dates back to the early 1990s. In three decades, technology has evolved, and the instrument was in great need of a new lease of life. “Organ builders have always been attentive to technique. In the 14th century a pneumatic system appeared, and letter carriers were quick to use it. Today we use electronic and computer systems, we easily appropriate them»Explains Jean Daldosso.
For the Gers factor, the organ installed in 1864 is notable in more than one way. Created at the time by Emile Poirier and Nicolas Lieberkneckt, “It is interesting because it is a so-called transitional organ. It dates from the middle of the 14th century, a time when classical organs were replaced by symphonic organs. It is very classical in certain respects, but it includes developments that we find later on symphonic organs » details the factor.
The return to normal (or almost)
This concert at La Daurade is one of the events of the second week of the Toulouse Les Orgues festival. Among the festivities, the Night of the Gesu, in the church of the same name, pays homage to Ennio Morricone. The greatest themes of the composer who died in July 2020 will be repeated on the organ on Thursday, October 14 at 10:30 p.m. On October 15 at 8:30 p.m., the two organists Thierry Escaich and Lionel Suarez will settle in at the Théâtre des Mazades for a tribute to Astor Piazzolla, the Argentinian musician considered to be the master of tango.
In a quarter of a century, the Organ Festival has made a place for itself in the hearts of the people of Toulouse. After a 2020 edition largely disrupted by the Covid-19, the festival has regained its form of the world before. From the best known like that of the Saint-Sernin basilica to well-kept secrets like that of the Sainte Marie-Madeleine church, 18 organs are in the spotlight throughout the pink city and its suburbs.
Yves Rechsteiner welcomes a first week without a hitch. If he deplores a few “Heaviness” in terms of Covid protocols, the artistic director welcomes this rebirth of the cultural city and a successful edition so far: “We were a bit in the dark, but it’s a good vintage for the moment, as much for the quality of the concerts as for the attendance “.
The Toulouse Les Orgues festival lasts until October 17. The complete program of these last days of festivities is to be found here .