Basse de Cromorne - Louis-Nicolas Clérambault | Secrets of Organ Playing Contest Week 44

This is my entry for the Secrets of Organ Playing Contest Week 44.

I'm playing Louis-Nicolas Clérambault's, Basse de Cromorne, from his Suite du deuxième ton. This piece of music is from the French Classical organ school which was little bit before the German baroque period—where Johann Sebastian Bach famously emerged from.

Clérambault was famous in the organ world for his two suites, the other being the Suite du premier ton. I believe that the second suite is more often played (perhaps easier?) as it seems to be more audience friendly. I do love the Plein Jeu and Basse de Trompette from the first though. The Suite du deuxième ton consists of 7 movements:

1. Plein Jeu
2. Duo
3. Trio
4. Basse de Cromorne
5. Flûtes
6. Récit de Nazard
7. Caprice sur les Grands Jeux

You always know when you are encountering a French classical piece of repertoire because the titles of the pieces indicate the registration to be used. The same can be said about Couperin, Guilain, Dandrieu and Marchand works.

Clearly, I am not playing on a historic French instrument here but I am making do with the resources at my disposal. On the accompaniment, I'm using a set of 8' + 4' Flutes and the Cromorne is the 16' Fagotto (Bassoon?) played up an octave to get an 8' pitch. I also add the 8' Flute to give it a bit more 'body'. I think it sounds pretty convincing for an electronic don't you think?

I've added the score to the video like what @partitura does as it's in the public domain. I hope to present more of these movements in future contests because I know that @laputis loves early music 😉

Yours truly,
@contrabourdon

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I'm co-owner of witness untersatz with organduo!

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