This is a compendium of festive rarities in the ‘Grand Siècle’ of the French organ: their authors have almost been forgotten, secular and the sacred mix with dance rhythms, and half of these works have been written more for a concert than the Service! These precious scores have been waiting like guilty pleasures buried in the secret drawers of our lives, hidden behind the French organ masters’ sumptuously bound volumes... Lucile Dollat breathes life into Piroye’s L’Allegresse, L’Immortelle and La Béatitude, the brilliant D’Agincour Suites and Balbastre’s sparkling Concerto again, with the contribution of the percussionist Michael Metzler, who is more inventive than ever in Raison’s Le Vive le Roy des Parisiens (Long love the King of Parisians)! The Great Organ in the Royal Chapel of Versailles gives a majestic voice to these collector’s gems, unearthed with great enthusiasm by a young organist with determined play.

Recorded from 18 to 20 December 2020 at the Royal Chapel of the Château de Versailles