This new release is Vol.1 of two SACDs dedicated to the large scale symphonic organ works of belgian composer Paul de Maleingreau, a contemporary of his better known compatriot Joseph Jongen. Paul de Maleingreau was born in 1887 in the north of France a few miles from the belgian frontier. In 1904 he enrolled in the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels. His organ tutor was Alfons Desmet (pupil of Lemmens). Paul Gilson taught him harmony and Edgar Tinel instructed him in the art of counterpoint and fugue. Nine years later, Paul de Maleingreau himself became lecturer at the Royal Conservatory of Music in the Belgian capital. In 1929 the director of the conservatory Joseph Jongen requested him to take over the organ class from Alfons Desmet. Paul de Maleingreau remained with the conservatory up to the time of his retirement in 1953. He died three years later as a result of complications following surgery.

In general, musicologists place De Maleingreau in line with Franck and Debussy, but in fact he developed a very personal style of his own. His organ works were published by well known publishing houses in Paris and London, a fact which underlines the measure of appreciation that existed for his work. The ‘Symphonie de l’Agneau Mystique’ opus 24 was composed in 1922, published four years later by Leduc in Paris and written ‘in memory of Hubert and Jan Van Eyck’. The Van Eyck brothers belong to the Flemish Primitives, a group of painters who were active in the Netherlands during the 15th and 16th centuries. Maleingreaus opus 24 was inspired by that most famous creation of the Van Eyck brothers: the retable of ‘the Mystic Lamb’, which was inaugurated in 1432 and which can still be seen today in the St.Baafs Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium. The ‘Symphonie de la Passion’ opus 20, created in 1920, is probably De Maleingreau’s most well known work. This symphony has also been dedicated to one of the Flemish Primitives (Rogier Van der Weyden), having been inspired by his paintings. The Passion Symphony was published in France in 1923, i.e. a year before the publication of the Symphonie Passion by Marcel Dupré. This opus 20 creates a form of musical commentary which accompanies certain scenes from the Passion of Christ. ‘Suite Mariale’ opus 65 was published by Oxford University Press, London. The four parts of this suite are intended as preludes or postludes for a number of Catholic Feastdays dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Paul de Maleingreau: Symphonic Organ Works Vol.1 AE-10611 $26.00