Jehan Alain - Complete Works

Jan Hage recorded the complete organ works of Jehan Alain (1911-1940) at Angoulème cathedral. In recent years, a number of relatively minor works by Alain that were unpublished have appeared in print.

Notes

Expressing the mystery of life was what Alain did in his short life in texts, drawings and especially music. Sometimes in short sketchy 'impressions' of the shimmering mysticism of the moment, life itself. Then, especially later, in larger works that incorporated big life questions like life and death in a personal, unique way, sometimes with an ambivalent mix of humour and seriousness. And in a spontaneous way, often inspired by the uncultivated, straightforward music-making of extra-European cultures. His music balances between the serene lullaby and the ecstatic, obsessive dance, and between serious and grotesque. Jehan Alain's oeuvre is a vast collection of 'signs of life' that bring his person, his feelings, experiences and ideas almost tangibly close.

CD 1

01 Berceuse sur deux notes qui cornent
02 Ballade en mode phrygien
03 Lamento
04 Postlude pour l'Office de Complies
05 Verset-choral

Variations sur Lucis Creator
06 Choral
07 Variation I
08 Variation II: Theme fugatum
09 Chant donné
10 Fugue en mode de fa
11 Complainte á la mode ancienne
12 Grave
13 Petite pièce
14 Climat
15 1st Prélude profane
16 2nd Prélude profane
17 1st Fantaisie
18 Deux danses à Agni Yavishta
19 Elévation
20 Le jardin suspendu

CD 2 Suite monodique 011 1. Animato

02 II. Andante
03 III. Vivace
04 De Jules Lemaitre
05 Phantasmagoria
06 Intermezzo
07 Choral dorien
0.8 Choral phrygien

Suite  

09 I. Introduction et Variations
10. II. Scherzo
11 III. Choral

12 2nd Fantaisie
13 Variations sur un thème
14 de Clément Jannequin
15 Litanies

CD 3

01 Prélude et fugue
02 Monody

Trois Danses
03 I. Joies
04 II. Deuils
05 III. Luttes

06 Aria