Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sunday 1 January - La Madeleine

I was walking along rue de Levis this morning with a baguette when an old lady passed me coming the other way.  She held up her hands and shouted "Bonne annee, tout le monde," to no one in particular.  She was quite sober - just happy

We decided to go to another free organ concert in La Madeleine.  It was with some misgivings as the one last Sunday was awful.  However, it was warm and we enjoyed the walk there and back.  This time the music played was a little more tuneful:
Charpentier - suite de Noels
J.S. Bach - Prelude and fugue BWV 547
Widor - two movements from Symphony No. 4
Tchaikovsky - improvisations on the Waltz of the flowers from the Nutcracker.
Perin (the organist) improvisations on themes of Noel.
The last piece was, by far the worst, and we quickly walked out.

The Waltz did not come over very well.  It was choppy and did not flow well, the rhythmn was not good.  I liked the Bach even though I had not heard it before.  It was instantly recognizable as a piece by Bach.  The prelude started with a very simple theme which was worked on in different registers and styles.  It built up to a crescendo when the music hit the roof and we were surrounded by a lot of notes falling down around us.

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