Orleans concert

Orleans is one hour south of Paris. Chartres and Blois are cities in the region. This area of France has some wonderful chateaux. Unfortunately, I will not have a chance to visit them this time.

Orleans was the place that was mentioned quite often in nobles and has been used for titles of music throughout French history. A big part of the town was heavily destroyed during the war, but was restored well.

The Cathedral Ste. Croix where I played did not undergo damage in the war -- thanks to God! One interesting thing about this edifice is that its towers have crowns on top of them as a decoration.

The cathedral houses two Cavaille Coll organs. The big one in the balcony is being restored.

When I arrived last Friday, the builder, Bernard Hurvy, was still working and he let me take a look at each corner of the organ. He has already successfully restored the choir organ that I played for the concert.

He is supposed to "restore" the organ -- in other words, put the organ back to its original state, which is different from rebuilding.

He let me try the positive division that was already put back, and some stops in swell as well. They really sounded round and warm! It was an 'ah ha!' moment for me. "This is the kind of sound that attracted me to French organ!"

After having dinner with Bernard, we came back to the cathedral to practice and work more. It was during that moment that the swell pedal got broken. Bernard kindly stayed until midnight to repair it without complaining. He was supposed to leave the next day at dawn. I said to myself, "You broke it at the right moment!"

The concert took place Sunday afternoon. An audience of more than 300 surrounded the choir organ. I spoke on each piece in a casual way before playing (of course, en francais). I liked the set up and lay out of the concert very much.

The audience surrounded me. We could face each other and it helped make the communication a lot better. They were very warm and enthusiastic. There were some journalists from local newspapers.

I met a lady from Carollton, TX. She was the third Texan I have met during this trip.

Since Paris is only one hour away from Orleans, I got back to Paris last night after concert -- wishing that I'd be able to hear the big organ when its resoration is complete.