In solidarity with Notre Dame de Paris: Daniel Brondel

Léon Boëllmann (1862-1897)
Suite Gothique (1895)
    I. Introduction – Choral
    II. Menuet gothique
    III. Prière à Notre Dame
    IV. Toccata

Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 (1936) (arr. William Strickland)

François Couperin (1668-1733)
from Messe pour les convents de religieux et religieuses (1690)
    Offertoire sur les grands jeux

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Apparition de l’Église Éternelle (1932)

Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
from 24 Pièces de fantaisie: Troisième Suite, Op. 54 (1927)
     VI. Carillon de Westminster

Louis Vierne
Les Angélus, Op. 57 (Triptyque pour chant et orgue) (1930-31)
     I. Au matin
     II. À midi
     III. Au soir
Louis Vierne
from Première Symphonie pour Grand Orgue, Op. 14 (1898-99)
     V. Final

 

I. Au matin Sur ma ville endormie a sonné l'Angélus, L'Angélus des clochers en hommage à Marie: Vois comme fuit la nuit et comme le salut De l'Archange est joyeux sur ma ville endormie. Comme faon de la biche au revers des coteaux Va bondir le soleil! La maison pauvre ou riche, Les arbres, les jardins seront dorés tantôt, Et joueront les enfants comme faon de la biche. Une journée encore apporte du bonheur Ou du tourment au cœur! Seigneur, je vous adore Dans la sublimité des premières lueurs Du jour et vous bénis une journée encore. II. À midi Au midi qui flamboie et rutile, voici Sur le bruit des cité et des foules, la joie D'un clair soleil! Mon Dieu, clamant notre merci Les cloches d'Angélus au midi qui flamboie. Au milieu de la route où nous pèlerinons Entre l'enfance aimée et la mort qu'on redoute, Sainte Mère de Dieu, nous nous arrêterons Pour implorer ton aide au milieu de la route. Car la tâche est immense et lourde pour nos bras. Tes maternelles mains apaisent nos souffrances Du midi jusqu'au soir tombant, guide nos pas Aux moissons de ton Fils où la tâche est immense. III. Au soir Puisque la nuit remonte au ciel et dans nos cœurs, Puisque l'heure est venue où chacun fait le compte De ses travaux, de ses douleurs, de ses rancœurs, Nous te prions encor(e) puisque la nuit remonte! Ô Vierge, sois clémente au dernier Angélus Qui berce le sommeil de la terre en tourmente! Qu'aux misères du jour nous ne pensions plus! À nos péchés humains, ô Vierge sois clémente! Dans la vie éternelle où la nuit ne vient pas, Emportés par le vent que seules font les ailes Des divins Angelots, nos Ave Maria Te chantent notre amour dans la vie éternelle.

I. In the Morning Over my sleeping town the Angelus has rung out, the Angelus from the steeples in homage to Mary. See how night flees away and how the greeting of the Archangel is joyous over my sleeping town. Like a doe’s fawn, on the far side of the hills the sun will leap forth! The house, humble or rich, the trees, the gardens will soon be gilded and the children will play like a doe’s fawn. A new day brings happiness or torment to the heart! Lord, I worship thee in the sublimity of the first glimmers of dawn, and bless thee for a new day. II. At Noon At blazing noon that dazzles, behold, above the noise of cities and crowds, the joy of a bright sun! O God, our thanks peal out in the Angelus bells at blazing noon. Midway on the path of our pilgrimage between loving childhood and the death we dread, Holy Mother of God, we will halt to implore thine aid midway on the path. For the task is immense, and heavy for our arms. Thy mothering hands ease our sufferings from noon until evening falls, guide our steps to thy Son's harvest, where the task is immense. III. In the Evening Since night drawns on in the skies and in our hearts, since the hour has come when each man must reckon up his deeds, his griefs, his resentments, we pray thee once more, since night drawns on! O Virgin, be merciful at the last Angelus that lulls the sleep of the tormented earth! Let us think no more on the woes of the day! To our human sins, O Virgin, be merciful! In the life eternal where night never comes, borne on the breezes created by the wings of the divine Cherubim alone, our Ave Marias sing to thee of our love in the life eternal.

Noted by The New York Times for playing the organ with flair, French-born musician Daniel Brondel is the Associate Director of Music at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, where he plays Masses each week that are streamed on the Internet and broadcast live on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. He is also the Associate Director of the Cathedral Choir, and he manages the organ recital series. He performs solo recitals in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Europe, and has also appeared as soloist in piano concertos of Mozart and Rachmaninoff, and organ concertos of Poulenc and Jongen. He recently accompanied the Sistine Chapel Choir during their visit to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and he has collaborated with famous opera stars, including Renée Fleming, Angela Gheorghiu, Michael Fabiano, Isabel Leonard, Matthew Polenzani, Susan Graham, James Valenti, Danielle de Niece, and Joyce DiDonato.

Mr. Brondel is the Artistic Director of The Salvatones, a new vibrant professional choral ensemble based in New York City. He made his Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) debut in 2010 as narrator in a performance of Erik Satie’s  Sports et divertissements. He has also recorded and appeared regularly as countertenor soloist (Schnittke’s  Requiem and Bach’s  B-Minor Mass) with Grammy-Award-winner Paul Halley, and has sung with the Gentlemen of the Choir of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. He has performed extensively in oratorios of Bach and Handel, and in opera, notably the lead role of Oberon in Benjamin Britten’s  A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Praised for a colorful timbre and an exceptionally wide vocal range, he is featured as solo sopranist in  Aural Borealis, a CD recording by award-winning Publick Musick. His first solo-organ album, The Glory of the Organ, recorded at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in 2010 on the JAV label, is available in the Cathedral’s Gift Shop, from JAV Recordings and on iTunes.

Daniel Brondel’s JAV recording of his improvised  Organ Fanfare (2010) was featured on  Pipedreams, a national radio program of organ music. It is the first music selection of Program #1103: “Domestic Issues” (2011), which focuses on new American organ recordings.

In 2005, Daniel Brondel founded the Cathedral of Saint Patrick Young Singers, the first auditioned youth choir at the Cathedral in over fifty years. The Young Singers performed in the presence of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to New York City in April 2008. Following a televised prayer service led by the pontiff, Mr. Brondel was heard playing organ works of Bach for several minutes on the worldwide television broadcast. In October 2010, he played the organ at Saint Peter’s Basilica (Vatican) for the Mass that opened the 9th International Festival of Sacred Music and Art.

Prior to his appointment at the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Mr. Brondel was the Director of Music & Organist at nearby historic St. Malachy’s Church (The Actors’ Chapel), where he resurrected the legacy of famed organist/composer Paul Creston. He also served as Director of Music at St. Anne Church, in Rochester, New York, and as University Organist at the University of Rochester.

A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with David Higgs and improvisation with Gerre Hancock and Rick Erickson, Mr. Brondel holds a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance. At Eastman, he did further doctoral work in organ and musicology, and studied voice with Jane McCoy. Master class teachers included Gillian Weir, Ludger Lohmann, Russell Saunders and Pierre Sancan. Mr. Brondel earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance cum laude from Georgia State University, Atlanta, where he studied piano with Geoffrey Haydon and organ with Sarah Martin. During his entire college career, he was a singer and French-diction coach for the Grammy-Award-winning Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus, directed by Robert Shaw. Recipient of a grant from the Theodore Presser Foundation, several prestigious academic fellowships, and winner of various piano competitions, Daniel Brondel also won the First Prize at the 1996 Arthur Poister Competition and the Second Prize at the 1996 National Young Artist Competition in Organ Playing of the American Guild of Organists in New York City. Mr. Brondel was the recipient of the 2016 Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel by Paris-based cultural organization La Renaissance Française.

A native of southern France, Mr. Brondel has lived in the United States since 1988. He is a member of EastWest Organists, the American Guild of Organists, and the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians. He has served as a member of the boards of Schola Cantorum on Hudson, of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and of the St. Wilfrid Club.

Tenor Salvatore Diana nurtured his passion for singing through his education in vocal performance. A native New Yorker, Salvatore has appeared extensively in operatic and choral performances throughout the New York metropolitan area, as well as nationally and in Europe as an ensemble singer and featured soloist, including appearances in concert at the French cathedrals in Agen and Auch. His oratorio work has been well received, particularly for Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Magnificat. For more than a decade, he has been a section leader at St. Patrick’s Cathedral with the honor of singing for two papal visits in New York and a papal audience in Rome. Salvatore is co-founder of New York-based professional vocal ensemble, The Salvatones.