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Views from the Choir Loft

Need Easy Organ Pieces? Try This Little-Known Composer

Keven Smith · August 2, 2022

T’S A STRUGGLE that every church organist knows all too well: you want to glorify God and provide beauty to your congregation by playing new repertoire regularly. But you haven’t had adequate practice time since college. You probably have a day job and a family. And easier organ music often doesn’t seem worth playing, musically speaking.

What to do? You could spend hours searching the internet for those rare interesting-yet-playable gems. Or you could head straight to IMSLP and look up Gaël Liardon.

Who Is Gaël Liardon?

Gaël Liardon was a brilliant composer and keyboard player who died in 2018 just two months shy of 45 years old. In terms of digital footprint, he’s a mysterious figure; his Wikipedia page contains only seven sentences and offers no details on his tragic death. Fortunately for us all, this brilliant Swiss musician left behind several dozen fine organ compositions on IMSLP.

On the day Liardon died, his friend and fellow Swiss keyboardist Benjamin Righetti went to St. Francois in Lausanne (where he is the titular organist) and recorded Liardon’s O heiliger Geist, o heiliger Gott. This trio is my favorite of Liardon’s organ works and an excellent introduction to his compositional style:

Finding Liardon’s Music

As I mentioned, many of Liardon’s compositions are available on IMSLP. (The usual warnings about copyrights apply.) He wrote beautiful, sophisticated pieces on many famous hymn tunes. Even as an advanced beginner, I’ve found some of them quite accessible. There are fuguettes that don’t even require pedals.

My organ teacher sent me a link to the trio above just days after Liardon died. It was a poignant experience to “meet” such an impressive composer from my generation yet realize that he had already passed into eternity. I’m puzzled that Benjamin Righetti’s performance has only garnered 11,000 views, especially considering that I’m responsible for several hundred of those.

Keep this talented man’s music alive—and breathe new life into your repertoire—by exploring Gaël Liardon’s compositions today.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: organ, organ repertoire Last Updated: August 2, 2022

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About Keven Smith

Keven Smith, music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr, lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “What Martin Luther Said…”
    My pastor asked me to write little columns for the bulletin each week. The article for 20 July 2025 has been posted, and it’s called: “What Luther Said…” Martin Luther (an ex-priest and apostate) was an infamous heretic whose ignorance of JESUS CHRIST was only exceeded by his filthy and disgusting vulgarity.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“To me it is a most inspiring reflection that, while empires and kingdoms have tumbled down, while language and custom of every kind have changed beyond recognition, still day by day the humblest Catholic priest in the remotest mission stands at his altar dressed in the garb of old Rome.”

— Father Adrian Fortescue (8 February 1912)

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