Jean-Baptiste Robin (organ) & Jehan Alain (organ)

• Litanies; Intermezzo; 3 Danses; Choral cistercien our une Elevation; Fantaisie Nr. 2; Suite; Choral dorien; Choral phrygien; 3 Minutes; Variations sur un theme de Clement Jannequin; Fantasmagorie; Chant donne; Preludes profanes Nr. 1 & 2; 2 Danses a Agni Yavishta; Aria; Bercuese sur deux notes qui cornent; Prelude; Petite piece; Postlude pour l'Office de Complies; Ballade en mode phrygien; Berceuse; Lamento; Variations sur Lucis creator; Monodie; Complainte a la mode ancienne; Climat; Fugue; Andante; De Jules Lemaitre; Variations sur un chant donne de Rimski-Korsakov; L'Annee liturgieque israelite; Fuge en mode de fa; Le Jardin suspendu; Fugue sur un sujet de Henri Rabaud; Verset-Choral; Canon e mode dorien pour piano et harmonium; Fantaisies Nr. 1 & 2; Les Fetes de l'annee Israelite; Synagogue Music

Jean-Baptiste Robin & Jehan Alain / Organs: Saint-Etienne-du-Mont Paris, Saint-Louis-en-l'Ile Paris, Sainte-Radegonde Poitiers, Cicinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal Ohio, Synagogue e la rue Notre-Dame-De-Nazareth Paris

In his short life (1911-40) 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.

This 3CD set contains recordings made in the 1930s of the composer performing his Les Fetes de l’annee Israelite and Synagogue Music – fascinating historical documents.

January 2012