Mellom frihet og ansvar: Olivier Latry om orgelimprovisasjon som sentralt element i katolsk liturgi1

This chapter discusses modernistic organ improvisation in Catholic liturgy. The discussion raises some questions concerning the different roles an organist must combine in the meeting between organ improvisation’s aesthetic tradition, theological legislation, and the congregation’s understanding of music and liturgy. All of this, the feeling of responsibility for the artistic, theological and communicative aspects of organ improvisation, rests on the organist’s shoulders in daily practice. My main research questions are: How can an improvisation with modernistic musical features relate to both its aesthetic tradition and Catholic liturgical thinking, and how can an organist combine the roles of artist, theologian and communicator? This chapter illuminates these issues through an interview with the influential and acclaimed French organist and improviser Olivier Latry at Notre-Dame in Paris.