Louis Vierne plays Bach Fantasia G minor BWV 542 - Notre Dame Paris 1928

Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937) plays Bach Fantasia in G minor, BWV 542, Recorded November 21st, 1928 in Notre Dame, Paris. This is my mono transfer from the original 78 rpm record. I used a UK pressed Parlophone (E10959) which is probably a bit noisier then the original French Odeon pressing. This recording is both spectacular and frustrating at the same time. Spectacular because the mighty Cavaille-Coll is recorded here in full glory for the first time in history and played by no one less then legendary Louis Vierne. Frustrating because in forte passages, there is significant sound deformation which is very hard to reduce. I tried different cartridges and weights to arrive to this digitization. I re-equalized the recording, applied some bass boost and slight click/pop removal. I prefer not to reduce hiss and broadband noise. At the side break, I left in the recorded long acoustical decay of Notre-Dame instead of trying to make a natural connection with the musical progression on the second side. The acoustical decay at the end of side 2 is unfortunately short; it was cut off after a few seconds by the original recording engineers. The recording is in public domain.