A first critical edition of the complete organ music of Augustin Barié
The sudden death of Augustin Barié in 1915 robbed the world of one of its most promising composers. With an output of just three publications, the five-movement Symphonie pour Orgue, the evocative Élégie and Trois Pièces, Barié was destined to become a composer equal to his teacher Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor. The English writer on music, Harvey Grace, described Barié as ‘a young man, [who] seems likely to loom large in French organ music’, and Vierne described his pupil’s music as audacious in its harmony, with rich polyphony, elegant design, and poetic detail. This edition is the first time the collected works have been edited and brought together in print. The music contains alternative solutions to challenging passages, and the preface discusses aspects of performance. A complete critical commentary provides further solutions for fingering and, as an appendix, includes the first English translation of René Vierne’s invaluable Méthode pour Orgue-Harmonium.
Stephen Hicks studied the organ in London with Harry Gabb and Ralph Downes and for four years in Paris and Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger at her invitation. Hicks also worked with André Marchal and Marcel Dupré, who wrote: ‘He is an excellent organist with a brilliant and accurate technique and a fine musical interpretation’. Hicks was the organ soloist at the Promenade Concerts in London in 1971 and has since given over 2000 concerts throughout Europe, the USA and Russia. He moved to Norway in 1983 and is Organist Emeritus at Bergstadens Ziir church in Røros.
