I downloaded and recorded this on the Caen demo for two reasons. I wanted to know what Caen sounded like through my system, not just recordings of others. I also wanted to know if Caen would be a good sound for the pieces I generally play. It is. But... can anyone give me a convincing argument why I might want to fork out more for Notre-Dame Metz? I guess I'm asking the age-old Metz vs Caen question...
By the way - I'm not 'cheap' I don't plan to record loads on the demo set, I really do want to buy one of the Cavaille-Colls!!
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Jean Langlais was approached to write a music book containing pieces in that were relatively easy for use in both catholic and protestant church services. He agreed and wrote 15 works. He chose his student, Naji Hakim to also write 15 works.
Langlais' works are relatively easy and characteristic of his style. Someone should have told Hakim about the need to be playable...
The pieces were designed to lead into the next, allowing an organist to play for as long or as short as needed. They were written "in an impressionistic/twentieth century harmonic style" (Publisher's forward).
I really like Langlais' pieces in this book. Number 11 is quite slow calling for 8' foundations. It really is a nice piece, despite being a bit more sombre in mood. I used all the available 8' foundations in the Caen demo set.