| It comes as a surprise to find that Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was born only two years after Mendelssohn – and his first great organ, at the Abbey of Saint-Denis, was built in 1840, some 5 years before Mendelssohn’s organ sonatas were published. Quite appropriate, then, that Alain Bouvet’s excellent programme of 3 sonatas and 2 Preludes and Fugues should be played on one of the French master’s instruments – and one can only guess what Mendelssohn’s reaction might be, to hearing his music on the ‘grandes orgues’. |
