LDV113-4

54 FRANCK Unfortunately, today we have only a few of these great instruments on which the overall perfection of the original voicing can still be heard. This is explained by the fact that the continuous evolution of tastes has always affected the organ, with the result that most symphonic organs were modified during the twentieth century, revoiced or even rebuilt, in order to adjust them to the new musical requirements of composers, or simply of performers wishing to . . . play early music again! Even the organ of Sainte-Clotilde itself was modified by the successors of César Franck. The so-called neo-classical movement would in turn give rise to new music by Duruflé, Alain, even Messiaen, and if some of the instruments realised for this purpose turned out to be new masterpieces of their kind, the price to be paid was often the loss of earlier organs, many of them by Cavaillé-Coll. But that is the eternal tale of life and death . . .