Playing at Caen

This is some pretty bad playing, but this organ (and the space) took some getting used to! Obviously the audio can't best capture the sound of this organ, but you get some idea of how incredible it is. You can at least tell it's Cavaille-Coll...

Caen, Part II

Caen is a very nice small town in Normandy. Despite its size, it still has quite a bit of shopping and many beautiful churches. It was pretty much completely destroyed during WWII, and rebuilt itself after the war. Normandy is known for its apples, and in fact is not a wine-producing region of any import. It does, however, produce apple brandy and hard cider. Calvados is a tasty apple brandy produced there, and I also picked up some fortified cider, which I haven't yet gotten around to drinking. It seemed like most of the organs were "pas interessante", as my guide told me, and they were probably all built after the war - not a good time for European organ building! I took pictures of all the churches I visited, but here's a few highlights from the trip:


Caen has a castle.


Jail in the castle


St. Peter church in Caen, seen from the castle tower


The church is getting restored to its original color; I think it's quite beautiful!


Statue of St. Joan of Arc

couple cities behind in posting...

I've just arrived at a surprisingly nice hotel in Strasbourg. I have a very nice view of the market outside, although the room is terribly tiny. I thought I'd get around to some pictures from my visit of Caen and playing the organ at the ancient L'Abbaye aux Hommes. Since then I've also been back to Paris, to Reims, and now Strasbourg, but I'm trying not to leave anything out! I have more from Caen that I'd like to share, but it'll wait until later because the Cathedral museum here in Strasbourg closes at 6 PM.


The abbey seems to be next to the town hall or something. It has a lovely garden. The church is built out of a special stone available only in Caen.




The Cavaille-Coll organ, finished in 1885, making it one century and one month older than myself. Cavaille-Coll was one of the greatest organ builders anywhere. His instruments have defined French music since the late 19th century. This organ was restored recently to the original specification, and impressed me more than any other instrument I've played!


At the console, with my tres a la mode t-shirt I bought at a French department store.




The grave of William the Conquerer is directly in front of the High Altar.