Search - Verdin :: Louis-James-Alfred Lefébure-Wely: Offertoires Op. 35

Organist successively of the churches of Saint-Roch, the Madeleine, and Saint-Sulpice, Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely (1817-1870) was incontestably the greatest organist in Paris during the first half of the nineteenth century. Joris Verdin now presents this world premiere recording of the complete Offertoires, Op. 35, on an instrument that was inaugurated by Lefébure-Wely himself, but that has rarely been recorded. The organ, in the church of Notre-Dame de Bon Secours in Rouen, France, was built by the legendary Cavaillé-Coll. Joris Verdin holds degrees in both organ performance and musicology. This enables him to perform relatively obscure music of the past, as well as contemporary works. Verdin currently teaches organ at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp and music theory at the Catholic University of Leuven, in addition to working as a composer. At the same time, he has established a reputation as a specialist in nineteenth-century repertoire for the harmonium. He gives master classes and lectures on this subject at the Göteborg Organ Academy, and at other institutions throughout Europe. Verdin's discography contains music from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. In recent years, he has gained special recognition from the French periodical Diapason and the Belgian music press for his recording of César Franck's complete organ works.