Romance JA031 from Trois Minutes

Jehan-Aristide Paul Alain.
3 February 1911 – 20 June 1940.

In his short life Jehan Alain composed some of the most fresh and original music for organ. The influences of composers such as Duruflé and Dutilleux mingle with Gregorian Chant and jazz and the exotic – the latter Alain discovered at the Colonial Exposition of 1931. Interestingly, many of the organ works were conceived for other forms – orchestra in the case of the Trois Dances, String Quintet for the Suite for Organ: Introduction and Variations for example. Many of the works started life as piano pieces, or for small chamber ensemble.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Alain became a dispatch rider in the Eighth Motorised Armour Division of the French Army; he took part in the Battle of Saumur, in which he was killed.

His younger brother was composer-organist-pianist-musicologist Olivier Alain and his younger sister was the organist Marie-Claire Alain, who was also responsible for popularising his works.

This is the middle piece of Trois Minutes JA 030 -032 from 1932.
The movemenst are; Un Cercle D'Argent, Romance, Grave.
The outer pieces are more animated. I think this is one of his piano/organ compositions as it is in the complete organ works recording by Jean-Baptiste Robin on the organs of St Etienne du Mont et St Louis en L ile Brilliant Classics and also by other organists.

Music attached.