It is a special occasion when two titular organists from Notre Dame de Paris, perhaps the world's most famous cathedral and a citadel of organ music, play at the same concert. Even more so when they together pay reverence to the long-traditional practice of organ improvisation, which demands special skills and training. Philippe Lefebvre, who was born in 1949, and Olivier Latry, 13 years his junior, simultaneously took up one of the organ world's highest posts in 1985 upon the death of the legendary Pierre Cochereau. Perhaps few people know that the family tree of French organists is similar to Hungary's line linking Bartók, Thomán and Liszt. The organists performing at the concert are, in a professional sense, direct descendants of César Franck - although the line can also be traced back as far as Salieri and Beethoven - since Widor and Vierne were both taught by Franck, and the latter worked for nearly four decades as the predecessor at Notre Dame to the aforementioned Cochereau. The composers of the works to be played are also closely related to this great family.
The practice of employing four titular organists at Notre Dame can be traced back to the 18th century, to the time when one of the brightest stars and great originals of French Baroque organ music, Louis Marchand was also composing. It was Marchand who wrote the piece to open this special evening presenting French organ music in a thousand different hues and who, as the story goes, retorted to an insulting comment from Louis XIV - regarding the imperfection of the organist's hands - by commenting on the Sun King's ears.

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Presented by: Müpa Budapest