Jean Guillou, organ

Gillou was the organist at the Parisian church of St Eustache for over 50 years, and he made it into a mecca for organ pilgrims from all over the world. His artistry on the organ is quite unique, and his numerous works and arrangements bear witness to an inexhaustible imagination, constantly affording new and unconventional access to the king of all instruments.

For his concert on the Elbphilharmonie organ, the »maître«, as the French traditionally refer to organists of great merit, performs his arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s »Pictures at an Exhibition« as well as his magnum opus »La révolte des orgues«. This 2007 composition, which exploits the organ’s full tonal richness, calls for one grand organ, eight portable organs placed around the audience, percussion and a conductor.

Guillou takes »la révolte« literally. The word can mean »to overthrow«, but other possible meanings include »to turn over a page«, »look something up«, »tell a story« or »to overturn something« and reorganise. »Deep in my heart I open a manuscript with a thousand episodes about the organ over the course of the centuries,« Guillou said once. His mission is to liberate the organ from its sacred significance and to make the instrument accessible to people, as it once was in the age of antiquity. In this concert, the musicians are not the only members of the »organ orchestra«, the audience is part of it too.