Around about this time last year, I performed Louis Vierne's Messe solennelle with a local choir. Usually this would be played with two organs, but I played both parts!
Louis Vierne was the principal organist at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, a post he held from 1900 until his death in 1937. He suffered either a stroke or a heart attack while giving his 1750th organ recital at Notre-Dame de Paris on the evening of 2 June 1937.
I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to perform this work (in two public concerts) and given the recent tragedies in Paris at the moment, I thought it would be fitting to share this as a tribute to Vierne and his role as principal organist of Notre-Dame de Paris.