Vierne: Cantiléne (Symphonie III)

David Macfarlane, organist
Hauptwerk Virtual Organ: Organ of the St. Etienne Abbey in Caen, Cavaille-Coll (1882)
Louis Vierne (1870-1937) was organist at Notre-Dame in Paris. Though blind, he was a renowned recitalist and influential teacher. Of his ten organ symphonies, No. 3 (1911) is in the sinister key of F-sharp minor. The third movement, “Cantiléne”, is a wistful song played on the oboe stop and functions as a foil to other darker movements.