Description

Canadian organist Vincent Boucher returns with the Livre de Noëls, a collection of carols for organ by French composer Louis-Claude Daquin on the Beckerath organ at St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montréal.

In the 17th century, and even more so in the 18th, organ variations on well-known noëls (Christmas carols) were much appreciated in France. Today, it is hard for us to realize how popular Louis- Claude Daquin (1694-1772) was, however he was lionized by noble and bourgeois Paris during his lifetime.

Between September 2011 and June 2012, Juget-Sinclair organ builders of Montréal disassembled, cleaned and restored every component of the 1960 Beckerath organ in the basilica. The integrity of the instrument’s sound was scrupulously preserved. This mechanical-action instrument is composed of 5811 pipes, forming 78 stops organized into six divisions: the Positive, the Great, the Bombard, the Swell, the Echo and the Pedal. The console has five keyboards and a pedalboard corresponding to the six divisions of the organ.