Béziers Sample Set - Puget Organ for Hauptwerk

[zurek]

Sonus Paradisi offers a sample set of the great organ of Béziers Cathedral (Puget 1869).

The Theodore Puget organ from the cathedral in the southern French city of Béziers has 3 manuals and 45 speaking stops in an unmistakable French Romantic style with a touch of French Classical era. The organ case and some of the voices come from an older organ by G. Poncher built in 1623-1633. The interventions of Monturus and Chambry changed the style of the organ during the 18th and 19th centuries.
French Romantic organs are not only A. Cavaillé-Coll. The organ in Béziers Cathedral has had a long and turbulent history, with the pipe material and internal arrangements coming from many different organ builders. Together, however, all the registers today form a beautiful unity of very varied palette of colors.

Details including audio examples may be found on the Sonus Paradisi web pages.

Vol.0 is free for everyone to download and try. It contains 16 organ stops for free without limitations.

[CyrilCouten]

Nice set. Surprisingly versatile. Thank you.

[zurek]

I have been recently impressed by the achievement of Lyndon Hills, who recorded Franck's Chorale No. 1 on 4 different sample sets of French organs by Sonus Paradisi: Béziers, St. Omer, Warrington, and Caen. What a fascinating comparison! How impeccably these sample sets fit the highly artistic rendition of Franck's music! Even the St. Omer sample set, which I have always considered less successful, fanstastically comes to life under the fingers of Mr. Lyndon Hills! Perhaps even this sample set achieves the best blend of sound colours.

Links to the performances:
Béziers (Puget)
St. Omer (Cavaillé-Coll)
Warrington (Cavaillé-Coll)
Caen (Cavaillé-Coll)

[larason2]

A very interesting organ. I'd say it's decidedly brighter than most other French Romantic organs, but it still sounds Romantic when it wants to. It has some very interesting stops, like the keraulophone and the clarinette, and two strings on the GO!

So a very tempting one. Congratulations on a good set.

[mnailor]

St. Omer really is a beautiful sampleset. I'd love to see it updated with the usual Mixer tab sliders. And a Soubasse 16 on the pedal would be a useful extension, if you were updating it anyway!

[zurek]

Well, St. Omer was not a successful sample set, because it had always been overshadowed by the Caen sample set, which is my best-seller of all times. I have recorded another perspective back then (distant), but we did not even post-processed it, because there was so little interest in the St. Omer sample set. So, I had no motivation for updating. But in the comparison, it performs excellent - its rounded colors are so well blending!

So, perhaps, I should go back to St. Omer and make it updated in future. For the Soubasse 16 which you mention, what intionation should it have? How loud and what tone color compared to the other pedal stops?

[mnailor]

Softer than the Flute 16, slightly quinty, could be copied from the G.O. Bourdon 16 with the bass octave strengthened a bit. Caen has a good SB16, but the releases wouldn't match. It's really a convenience for registering softer music. Thanks for considering it!

I think the fonds on St. Omer are unique among C-C samplesets for delicacy and articulation, while keeping the growling chorus reeds and shiny upperwork. It's an underestimated organ for sure. Caen is a great workhorse, and Beziers is satisfying to play, but St. Omer holds its own too.

(You might boost sales of St. Omer with Bourdon 32 and Bombarde 32 extensions. The manuals have enough power to balance that. 32' stops seem to be strangely popular...)

[jazzali]

Well, St. Omer was not a successful sample set, because it had always been overshadowed by the Caen sample set, which is my best-seller of all times. I have recorded another perspective back then (distant), but we did not even post-processed it, because there was so little interest in the St. Omer sample set. So, I had no motivation for updating. But in the comparison, it performs excellent - its rounded colors are so well blending!

So, perhaps, I should go back to St. Omer and make it updated in future. For the Soubasse 16 which you mention, what intionation should it have? How loud and what tone color compared to the other pedal stops?

I assume you mean by 'successful' the number of sales? I terms of audio quality, St. Omer is really wonderful. This instrument has it's limitations, but is tonaly truely wonderful. The works of Franck are right at home in St. Omer. I really hope St. Omer will be updated with the modern Pipe Coupling and Pipe Detuning features, and maybe a distant perspective!

[zurek]

Yes, successful in term of number of copies sold, it is not a best-seller at all.

[larason2]

I've always liked St. Omer, but only recently bought it. Aside from Franck, for which it's probably the best available, it's also great for French baroque material. A softer 16 foot, like a soubasse, would indeed be useful for when you want it to be more romantic. It has really nice reverberation. You can't play all Romantic repertoire on it convincingly, but it has a lot of character. It's truly a very interesting organ. I'd welcome an update with more channels and multi channel random detuning. I'm not sure that will drive a lot of sales though! Most of us who recognize its merits already have it.

[jazzali]

Caen is in my opinion still a very good sample set: the best available for the whole French romantic repertoire. Altough regular updated, it is now more than 15 years old. It is my absolute dream that a simular size, all original Cavaillé-Coll organ will be released for Hauptwerk, recorded with the latest techniques, multiple perspectives, recorded tremulant stops, Pipe Coupling, Pipe Detuning etc. For instance, the wonderful CC organ in Lyon, Orleans or Toulouse... I would instantly buy it!

[zurek]

I added a note to the features requests for the St. Omer sample set. I will surely make an updated version one day in future.

About recording other organs - it is always the same story. There are fantastic and significant organs in the whole world, but the authorities are usualy strongly opposing the idea of sampling "their" instrument. So, one needs really good and correct contacts to get a permission to record the sound of any of those important organs. If you have such good contacts, please, contact me privately and we will try our best.

[mnailor]

Thank you.

[giwro]

I added a note to the features requests for the St. Omer sample set. I will surely make an updated version one day in future.

About recording other organs - it is always the same story. There are fantastic and significant organs in the whole world, but the authorities are usualy strongly opposing the idea of sampling "their" instrument. So, one needs really good and correct contacts to get a permission to record the sound of any of those important organs. If you have such good contacts, please, contact me privately and we will try our best.

Jiri is 100% correct - sampling and editing is relatively straightforward once you learn best practices… it’s actually getting access and a signed contract that often is the insurmountable barrier. And, it helps if you know someone “inside”.

By all means, if you have contacts, let Jiri know… sometimes that means miraculous results!

[jazzali]

I added a note to the features requests for the St. Omer sample set. I will surely make an updated version one day in future.

About recording other organs - it is always the same story. There are fantastic and significant organs in the whole world, but the authorities are usualy strongly opposing the idea of sampling "their" instrument. So, one needs really good and correct contacts to get a permission to record the sound of any of those important organs. If you have such good contacts, please, contact me privately and we will try our best.

Thank you, Jiri. Looking forward to the St. Omer update!