LUC DUPUIS
Organist and Composer
What the press says
I can highly recommend this new edition of Widor's organ symphonies. Dupuis lends the performer clarity, and a reimagining of Widor's true authentic style that has perhaps been lacking in some earlier editions that merely sought to reprint pre-existing often inaccurate material without taking the brave step into constructive and purposeful revision.
Kurt Ison in The Sydney Organ Journal
The changes that Dupuis has made to the transmitted musical text can be explained by a very well-founded discernment from the point of view of compositional technique, but also are primarily reflected in the revision of the partly disastrous musical image of the first editions, which Dupuis has transposed into a clearly legible horizontal layout. […] Their great advantage lies in the ease with which they can be read and turned over, and consequently in the practical handling of the volumes, which is due to the publisher’s remarkable experience.
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Birger Petersen in Forum Kirchenmusik (translated from German)
The editions are well presented on good quality paper with clear and easy-to-read fonts, and registration indications are equally clear. The notes in these editions are informative and helpful, and where changes have been made it is for good reasons. […] The edition clearly shows respect for Widor's teaching of phrasing and legato, a style which the composer learned from his teacher Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens. […] This is an impressive and well-researched edition conceived with the player in mind and one which should be seriously considered by those wishing to play the composer.
Malcolm Archer
in Organists’ Review
Luc Dupuis’s newly revised and corrected edition of the latter concertos by G.F. Handel is an elegant arrangement of these chamber works for organ solo. […] The engraving is comfortable to read, and the spiral-bound landscape score allows for infrequent and easy page-turns. This edition will breathe new life into this repertoire by greatly expanding its versatility.
Jordan Prescott in
The American Organist
The greatest virtue of Dupuis's edition is the quality of his newly added material, which in the later concertos amounts to a series of original compositions in Handel's style (most extensively in the op. 7, no. 3 concerto with its rubric Adagio e fuga ad libitum). The newly composed movements are idiomatic in style and musically interesting, presumably the result of the editor's long experience as a harmony and counterpoint teacher.
Aaron JAMES in
Journal of the Royal Canadian College of Organists
What is most useful is that Dupuis has written out the ad lib. sections in full and in the correct Handelian style and, taking this one step further, he has composed entire slow movements where the organist was meant to improvise on the diapasons. […] This is a very welcome and useful edition.
Pastor de Lasala in
The Sydney Organ Journal
[...] Forging his unique path, Dupuis’s rich, luminous harmonies, and the exploration of non-traditional scales are hallmark features of his work. It must be mentioned that the stylistic influences of Marcel Dupré (1886-1971) and the improvisatory style of Pierre Cochereau (1924-1984) are also recognisable in Dialogue.
Dupuis is a confessed disciple of the French Symphonic School. The colourful registration combinations in Danse des étoiles, the expressional and emotional depth of Méditation sur le mystère de la creation, and the orchestral grandeur of Forces et profondeurs astrales all confirm this notion. The almost codified instructions for the use of manuals, the implementation of dynamics, the very specific registration indications, and appropriately detailed articulation suggestions à la française lend further credence to this claim.
Dupuis’s Dialogue is a groundbreaking masterpiece in the world of organ music. With this composition, he has pushed the boundaries of what is idiomatically possible with the organ and its capabilities, taking the performer and listener on a captivating stellar journey through space, the cosmos and the human experience. His mastery and sheer versatility in writing for the organ are awe-inspiring, and his ability to evoke profound emotions is nothing short of remarkable. Dialogue is a testament to the enduring power and effect of the organ to move and inspire even in the 21st century where the instrument’s relevance is consistently questioned.
Prof Theo van Wyk, Pretoria
in Journal of the Southern African Church and Concert Organists Society
[…] The structure is clever: the suite can be played by one or two organs at will. There are simply passages marked I and II for orgue de tribune and orgue de choeur. These may be disregarded; there are no passages that require two organs (and hence two players) at once.
Musically, one is immediately struck by the intentional parallels to Messiaen. Each of the seven movements is given an evocative title reflective of both senses of ‘celestial’: the created cosmos and the eternal realm of God. Which is intended is not entirely clear. The title evokes the mysticism of Les Corps glorieux or even the Quatuor pour la fin du temps; but here all similarity ends. Dupuis’s compositional style is very different from that of Messiaen, to say nothing of his spirituality.
These pieces work for me rather like short and very intelligent improvisations: a clear and forceful idea is proposed and developed appropriately, ending at the right moment and never belaboring a point. They range from quite easy to quite difficult.
The piece I chose to present in a recent noontime recital was ‘Rêve céleste’ (yes, the ‘quite easy’ one). At times, it seems to evoke Le Banquet céleste. (I went with Messiaen’s registration for gouttes d’eau at the end.) Similarly, the first movement, ‘Visions dans l’infini,’ uses Messiaen’s favored technique of development by reduction, not to mention thematic juxtaposition. Still, the formal structure, aesthetic, and musical language are entirely different, apparently lacking (barring a deep analysis) the Indian deçîtâlas and the modes of limited transposition.
An interesting suite, all told: colorful, evocative, and mainly accessible, perhaps with a few words of explanation.
Jonathan B. HALL, Fago, ChM
in The American Organist
Program music, cast in the form of a one-movement sonatina in 5/4 time. The descending theme is heard early on, after a few measures of upward movement (optimistic but foreboding), and takes over till the end, when we hear the original upward motive in a new tragic context. There are ten short explanatory notes guiding the interpretation of the listener. The final comment speaks of ‘all-powerful and vengeful nature’ (la nature toute puissante et vengeresse).
While I find this a needlessly dark view of nature, the piece is well constructed and musically interesting. I think an audience would find it comprehensible, and the mood is appropriately tragic. I recommend getting to know this gifted improviser and composer.
Jonathan B. HALL, Fago, ChM, in The American Organist
Luc Dupuis says he has a predilection for French symphonic music. This triptych, in which influences of Vierne, Alain and Duruflé resound, bears witness to this. The miniatures lend themselves to full performance, but also do well as stand-alone works, for instance as a musical intermezzo during a celebration. I enjoyed playing through all three.
Joost VAN BEEK in
De Orgelvriend, Netherlands
(Translated from Dutch)
