Music Review

French, but Conversant in Many Genres

By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER Published: May 9, 2011

The pipe organ is a mysterious and complex instrument, whose flight deck of keys, knobs, tabs and pedals require the performer to be pianist, pilot and tap dancer simultaneously. Organists often work diligently in the shadows, their consoles hidden from view. But the handsome new Manton Memorial Organ at the Church of the Ascension in Greenwich Village was on full display for its inauguration on Thursday evening, with a concert by Jon Gillock.

Kenneth Dickerman for The New York Times

Jon Gillock - This organist played at the inauguration of the Manton Memorial Organ at the Church of the Ascension in Greenwich Village.

The organ, built at the workshop of Pascal Quoirin in St.-Didier, France, has 6,183 pipes, 95 stops, 7 keyboards and 2 consoles. It is said to be the first French-built organ ever installed in New York and the largest French organ built in almost 50 years.

Organs are often constructed to accommodate a specific genre of music, like German Baroque or French Romantic. But Mr. Gillock and Dennis Keene, the organist and choirmaster at the Church of the Ascension, wanted ’an eclectic instrument that would be ideal for playing a wide repertory, with a particular facility for Messiaen’s music. The exquisitely carved peacocks and birds of paradise decorating the pipes allude to Messiaen’s fascination with birdsong.

The concert highlighted 19th- and 20th-century French music, concluding with two excerpts from Messiaen’s nine-movement “La Nativité du Seigneur” (“The Birth of the Lord”). Mr. Gillock’s interpretations of “Les Enfants de Dieu” (“The Children of God”) and “Dieu Parmi Nous” (“God Among Us”) proved the highlights of the evening.

The work reflects elements key to Messiaen’s music: his Christian faith and his interest in birdsong and Indian and Greek music. In the capable hands (and feet) of Mr. Gillock, a Messiaen specialist who studied with that composer, the work’s myriad sonorous details, cascades of sound, virtuosity and power were majestically conveyed and enhanced by the kaleidoscopic timbres of the instrument.

The warm, rich sound of the organ was heard to fine effect in Franck’s “Prière,” particularly in the third section, marked “Very expressive and very intense,” and in Charles Tournemire’s Improvisation on the “Te Deum.”

The instrument’s powerful, colorful sonorities were highlighted in Vierne’s “Carillon de Westminster” (a fantasia on the chime of Big Ben in the Palace of Westminster in London) and the “Impromptu” from Vierne’s “Pièces de Fantaisie.”

A version of this review appeared in print on May 10, 2011, on page C2 of the New York edition with the headline: French, but Conversant in Many Genres.