Critiques Y. MERLIN

"A 4 mains et à 4 pieds", comme le précise le titre de leur dernier CD, Béatrice Piertot et Yannick Merlin exploitent magnifiquement les sonorités de l'orgue de l'église parisienne Saint-Laurent. Grâce aux transcriptions qu'ils ont réalisées [...] ils mettent en valeur, et rendent aisément perceptibles les différents registres de l'instrument [...] Le texte de présentation précis, clair et documenté, tant pour les oeuvres retenues que pour l'instrument lui-même, éclaire les tenants et les aboutissants de ce très beau disque."

"The Keyboard Trust strayed from its usual venue and instrument to mount a programme of French music for organ duet at the Temple Church, Fleet Street, on 5 November played by Yannick Merlin and Béatrice Piertot. This proved to be an exceptionally fascinating event, the music suiting the famous Harrison and Harrison instrument admirably. The central items were two important and highly successful transcriptions - Saint-Saens's Danse macabre and the second movement of Debussy's String Quartet in G minor - both of which worked well in the different medium, and which were finely played with much character.

The programme opened with a march pour la Cérémonie Turque by Jean-Baptiste Lully, in an arrangement by Béatrice Piertot herself, and ended with the Rapsodie pour deux organistes en 5 mouvements by Naji Hakim, Messiaen's successor at Saint-Sulpice [sic]. This last work, by far the most significant in the programme in respect of the suitability for the medium of organ duet, received a fine performance indeed, and the attention to detail, suitability of registration, allied to the musically adept technical skill of both players, was a consistently impressive feature of this eminently worthwhile occasion."

Musical Opinion, Jan/Feb 2009 by Matthew-Walker, Robert