Today on the first day of the 2018 Historic Organ Study Tour we saw three organs in the village of Romainmôtier (called the most beautiful village in Switzerland!) and one in Moudon, but it was two “home” organs which made the biggest impression on me.

The first was formerly owned by the great Italian organmaster, Luigi Fernando Tagliavini (1929-2017), who together with Marie-Claire Alain, Anton Heiller and Gustav Leonhardt, he made a considerable contribution to the rediscovery and promotion of historical performance practice on the Baroque organ and also the harpsichord. (Wikipedia)

I am afraid I never heard him play in person, but I was certainly aware of his reputation. What surprised me about this organ was its large size—I mean, just the size of the blower would take up half a room in a typical house. After Tagliavini’s death the organ was moved to an upstairs chapel of St Michael in the Abbey of St Peter and St Paul. It can be played without disturbing the people in the nave below and is perfectly soundproof.

Of course what was thrilling was to play the same keyboard as a great organist. The instrument had a very clear tone, perfect for playing Baroque or Neo-Baroque music—so I played “Herzliebster Jesu” by Helmut Walcha, which sounded perfect on this instrument.

Here is a picture of the organ downstairs which is squeezed between two walls.

The organ which made the biggest impression on me, though, was the organ which was built by Albert Alain, father of Jehan, Olivier and Marie-Claire Alain in their family home. It was Romantic in tonal design, and was constantly being “tinkered with”—changed by Albert, sometimes as people were playing the organ! You see, there was a little trap door where Albert could crawl inside the organ chamber.

The organ was given to Guy Bovet in 1985 by the Alain family and he moved it here to an extension of the Abbey. Albert had changed it from a three-manual to a four-manual instrument which Jehan never knew. It cost almost a million francs to restore it!

What was exciting to me was to pull the stops as indicated in the score and to know this was the organ that Jehan conceived his compositions. This was a life-changing experience!

I played “Berceuse sur deux notes qui cornent” which sounded absolutely gorgeous on this organ. Apparently it was designed as a lullaby for Marie-Claire, who was only 13 when her brother Jehan died.

After lunch we drove to Église St Étienne in Mouton where we played a 1764 organ by Joseph-Adrien Pottier, modified in 1826 and 1874, then restored in 1974. I played Bach’s last composition, “Vor deinen Thron,” and a lot of people thanked me and commented on how much they liked this piece on this organ. I have to thank our tour leader, Christophe Mantoux, who helped me choose the stops. However, he had me play the left hand down an octave, and I ran out of keyboard on the last phrase!

As for getting sleep last night, forget it! I walked into the hotel a little after 7 pm, showered, ate a sandwich then was ready for bed about 9. Unfortunately I woke up at 11:30 pm and never got back to sleep!

It was all the fault of having a rehearsal the night before I left and I am afraid I had a Soler ear worm the rest of last night! (That’s the closing piece for our October 13th Organists 1-2-3 program, which I have scored for three organs.)

That’ll teach me!