Marcel Dupré in Queens Hall - 1926-27

Now it’s time for another Marcel Dupré release. This time is probably some his earliest recordings made in Queens Hall, London in 1926 and 1927. Marcel Dupré marked in many ways the “modern” way of playing, and he was immensely popular everywhere he played and most definitely also in England.

HMV was, as far as I know, the first European record company who seriously made organ recordings. I think it was due to the fact, that many of the organists in England were very popular to the people in general. The many concert hall organs popularized the organ and organ music, and many organists could fill concert halls with an enthusiastic audience. So in England were a broad marked for selling organ recordings. A lot of these recordings are, taken the age in consideration, of very high quality and the sound is remarkably clear. One easily forgets that the recordings are over 80 years old.

These recordings are important of several reasons. First of all they document the organ at the old Queens Hall before the destruction in 1941 – the organ was first build in 1893 by Hill then later rebuilt in 1923 to what extent I don’t know. Queens Hall was at the center of music in England, and the history of the hall is very interesting – please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Hall


Secondly they represent, what I think, the best of Marcel Dupres playing. They have vitality and elegance – the gem in this release is the Clerambault, where his style, touch and ornaments is very fluent and elegantly shaped.

I would like to thank the blog “78 toeren en LP's” at - http://www.satyr78lp.blogspot.com/ - for this release. Please do visit this excellent site, where you’ll numerous historical recordings. No post recording editing has been used on these recordings.


Download detailed playlist

Download link:
http://www.ihorc.com/ihorc/IHORC-21/IHORC-21_-_Dupre_-_Queens_Hall.rar