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1854/80 Ducroquet/Cavaillé-Coll Organ

St. Sauveur Cathedral, Aix-en-Provence/Provence, France

 

(Classified historic monument: 18th century organ case and instrument)

Short Introduction and History

The organ was built in 1854 by Alexandre Ducroquet, successor of the firm Daublaine et Callinet in Paris. Ducroquet built the new organ on the Gospel side in the genuine former chest, constructed by Isnard, the famous organ builder of St. Maximin . Cavaillé-Coll did tonal adaptions and restorations in 1880, added/replaced some stops.

The pedal compass was enlarged by Merklin 1915, who also replaced some stops. The restoration committee of 1972 had the difficult task to decide, to which organ they should go back, the original Ducroquet or Ducroquet-Cavaillé-Coll? They decided for the excellent 1880 Cavaillé-Coll state.

The big restoration and reconstruction by organ builder J. Dunand started in 1973. The inauguration concert took place on March, 19, 1975, performed by Marie-Madeleine DURUFLE and Maurice GAY. The last restoration took place in 2002. Titular organist has been Chantal de Zeeuw since 1979.

The Ducroquet-Cavaillé-Coll is a transitional romantic-symphonic instrument of very high quality and therefore was classified as a historical monument. Due to the Cromorne, the Sesquialtera and the brilliant Fourniture and Plein Jeu, which are normally not existing or have a darker colour within Cavaillé-Coll organs, one is able to play the complete (French) organ repertoire, beginning from late baroque up to modern pieces.

The church room has a rich wet acoustics with about 6,5 seconds of reverberation.

See Location in Googlemaps

Recording technique

The organ was recorded in February 2005 with 44.1 kHz, 16 bit, multi-channel for Hauptwerk 2, using the multi-release technique introduced by OrganArt. The stops were recorded with multiple release levels for short and long key attacks.

Thanks

Special thanks are due to Titulaire Chantal de Zeeuw for the warm welcome and support.
Last but not least, thanks to my wife, who assists all projects and is responsible for the photo documentation.

Virtual Console

 

Specification

Positif (C–f3)*

Laye des Fonds
01. Bourdon 8'
02. Salicional  8'
03. Prestant 4'
04. Sesquialtera 2 rgs
05. Flûte Harmonique* 8'
06. Flûte Octaviante* 4'

Laye des Anches
07. Doublette 2'
08. Plein Jeu IV rgs
09. Trompette 8'
10. Cromorne 8'
11. Clairon 4'
12. Picolo 1'

Grand Orgue (C–f3)*

Laye des Fonds
01. Bourdon 16'
02. Montre 8'
03. Flûte 8'
04. Flûte Harmonique** 8'
05. Bourdon 8'
06. Gambe 8'
07. Prestant 4'
08. Flûte Octaviante* 4'
09. Cornet 5 rangs

Laye des Anches
10. Quinte 2  2/3'
11. Doublette 2'
12. Fourniture 5 rgs
13. Bombarde 16'
14. 1ère Trompette 8'
15. 2ème Trompette 8'
16. Clairon 4'

Récit expressif (C–f3)*

Laye des Fonds
01. Flûte 8'
02. Bourdon 8'
03. Viole de Gambe 8'
04. Voix Céleste 8'
05. Flûte Octaviante 4'
06. Octavin 2'

Laye des Anches
07. Trompette 8'
08. Basson-Hautbois 8'
09. Voix Humaine 8'

Pedal (C–f1)

Laye des Fonds
01. Basse Acoustique** 32'
02. Soubasse* 16'
03. Flûte  16'
04. Basse* 8'
05. Gambe* 8'
06. Flûte 8'
07. Flûte 4'

Laye des Anches
08. Bombarde 16'
09. Trompette 8
10. Clairon 4

Commodités

Accouplements (Couplers)
8ve G.O.  (Suboctave coupler)
POS-G.O.
REC-G.O.
REC-POS

Tirasses (Pedal Couplers)
G.O., POS,  REC

Appeles (Activate Anches Layer)
Appel Anches PED
Appel Anches G.O.
Appel Anches POS 
Appel Anches REC

Tremolo Récit

Expression Positif (à bascule)
(Swell box pedal, extd.)

Expression Récit  (à bascule)

Rossignol I, II, III

NOTE: Extended features
*   Borrowed stops
** Added stop extension

* Extended Version:

Manuals C–g3

Requirements

Loaded Version

Memory Requirements 3)

Processor Speed 2)

16-bit, compressed1), single loop

3050 MB

≥ 2 GHz  DualCore 2)

16-bit, compressed, (extdended version)

3250 MB

≥ 2 GHz DualCore 2)


1)
Lossless compression (no loss of sound quality!)

2)
Recommended:  Minimal configuration: Dual-Core, 4 GByte RAM,  Optimal configuration: Quad-Core, 8 GByte RAM

3)  To load this organ into Hauptwerk you will need enough free memory in your computer, due to the amount of playable stops, not including the operating system or any other programs that may be running!         

We recommend a professional audio card (e.g. RME-Series) and a studio headphone (e.g. AKG Reference Headphone K701, K712) for optimal sound and room impression.

Demos

The following demo pieces were recorded with the Hauptwerk Advanced Edition software and the virtual organ sample set, with no additional effects processing.

Live performance by Andreas Mattes, Germany:

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937):

 
Live performance by Anton Doornhein, NL: (extd. organ)

C. Franck (1822-1890)

Cantabilé | 5:38 min
Piéce Hèroique | 8:85 min

E. Gigout (1844-1925)

Toccata | 3:21 min

Louis Vierne (1870-1937)

Stèle pour un enfant défunt (from Triptique op.58) | 4:59 min

Organ Symphony No. 1 op. 14:
Prélude | 8:28 min,
Fugue
| 4:53 min
Pastorale | 7:35 min
Allegro vivace
| 4:50
Andante
| 7:31 min
Final
| 6:28 min

Live perfomance by Lorenzo Bonoldi, Milano:
Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925):
Thème et Variations C#m op.115 (1899) 11:50 min | Stop List

Live performances by Randall Mullin, USA

Vierne, Widor

Numerous other live recordings can be found on the ConcertHall Website
(Advanced Search, Organ: OAM - Ducroquet-Cavaillé-Coll)

© OrganArt Media, all rights reserved
No demo sounds may be used or transmitted in any form for public purposes without the prior written permission of the publisher!

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