Michel Chapuis - Louis Nicolas Clerambault, Pierre Du Mage : 1er Livre d'Orgue

As usual with Astrée, extraordinary recordings of little-known works by French XVII century composers Pierre Du Mage and Louis Nicolas Clérambault. I've never been into organ classical music, but this is some great material.

Founded in 1975, Astrée is one of the most beautiful and consistent label of XVIIe century music of its time, especially in its early years. Created by Michel Bernstein, the man who founded Valois in the late 1950's, a pioneering label in ancient music, Astrée was home to some groundbreaking recordings, including a series of viol pieces played by Jordi Savall.

The quality of the work put into the mid-1970's recordings is astonishing, from the art direction to the recording techniques, these Astrée LP's don't offer the bright and slick sound major labels, like Philips, invested thousands of dollars to provide, but rather a profound, cavernous one that suits perfectly the solemnity of the pieces recorded. 

Recorded on Poitier Cathedral's organ, inaugurated in 1790, Michel Chapuis, Michel Bernstein, and Georges Kisselhoff (sound engineer on the record) worked together to get as closed as possible to the conditions in which the pieces were created in the early 18th Century. Even an untrained ear like mine can tell that, indeed, it doesn't sound at all like the vast majority of classical organ recordings : the sound is much less bright, much more "wooded" - I'm sure I'll shock any specialist reading this. Anyway, another great release on Astrée. (VG+/VG+)