Few details are known about the life of André Raison. He was born around 1650, and his early schooling was at the Seminary of the Abbey of Ste. Geneviève in Nanterre. By about the age of 16 Raison served as organist of the Royal Abbey of Ste. Geneviève du Mont (Augustinian Order), where he remained employed until his death. His first known publication was released in 1688, at the age of around 38: "Livre d’orgue contenant cinq messes suffisantes pour tous les tons de l’église, ou quinze Magnificats pour ceux qui n’ont pas besoin de messe avec des Élevations toutes particulières. Ensuite des Benedictus, et une offerte en action de grâce pour l’heureuse convalescence du Roy en 1687, laquelle se peut aussi toucher sur le clavecin." [Paris, auteur, 1688] Little else is known about Raison’s professional activities, and there are no other extant compositions until the "Second livre d’orgue" of 1714. However, by 1695, tax records show that he had risen to such a level of respect and renown that his earnings were on a par with the most prestigious of the French organists: Louis Marchand (1669-1732), François Couperin (1668-1733), and Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703). Among Raison’s students was Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749), successor to Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers as organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, and of the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis à Saint-Cyr. The "Livre d’orgue" of André Raison contains five alternatim Masses (in tones 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8), in which each movement is specifically labeled with its precise liturgical function (for example "Quoniam tu solus" of the "Gloria in excelsis"). The original liturgical performance practice divided the text of each section of the Ordinary of the Mass between the organ and sung chant. The title page of Raison’s Livre d’orgue suggests that the entire collection of movements can also be used as “fifteen Magnificats for those who have no need for Masses.” This easy change of purpose for each verset is made possible by the fact that Raison’s Masses do not quote any plainchant, allowing an organist freedom to transplant any movement to another purpose—according to the tone and specific mood of the verset. For the present recording, the Mass on the 6th Tone is presented in its original layout as a Mass, and three Magnificats have been constructed from versets on the 2nd, 3rd, and 8th tones. About the performer: International prize-winning organist Neil Cockburn is Interim Director of Music at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer (Anglican) in Calgary, Artistic Director of the Calgary Organ Festival, and Instructor of Organ at the University of Calgary. Celebrated for his diverse repertoire interests and expertise, he performs an all-encompassing spectrum of solo organ recitals on a wide range of instrument types, from all-Bach recitals on historically inspired organs, to symphonic programmes on romantic instruments, and concerts of entirely new works. His most recent solo recording is of the Mass on the Sixth Tone with three Magnificat Suites by the seventeenth-century French composer, André Raison. Born in Scotland, Neil Cockburn’s musical education was at Oxford University (BA Hons, Music), the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK (MusM, Organ Performance, and the Professional Performance Diploma, PPRNCM), the Conservatoire Nationale de Région Rueil-Malmaison, France (Premier prix de perfectionnement), and the University of Calgary (PhD, Musicology). His formative teachers and mentors include David Sanger, Margaret Phillips, Dame Gillian Weir, and Victor Coelho. He won First Prize at the 1996 Dublin International Organ Competition, and has received numerous other prestigious awards, including the W. T. Best Memorial Organ Scholarship (UK), a scholarship from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust (UK), and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Prize — awarded by an international panel of judges. As a harpsichord and continuo player he performs regularly with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra—notably in the annual Bach@Knox Festival—and with the Kensington Sinfonia. With theorbists Victor Coelho and David Dolata and the group “Il Furioso,” he performed harpsichord continuo on two recordings of early seventeenth-century Italian repertoire for the Toccata Classics label: recordings of the music of G.G. Kapsberger and B. Castaldi. He is an avid recruiter and mentor of new organists: he has directed three Pipe Organ Encounter camps in Calgary for young beginner organists, and has taught courses for the Royal College of Organists (UK), the Guild of Church Musicians (UK), the Royal School of Church Music, the St. Giles International Organ School (London, UK), the Rochester NY Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Oundle International Summer School for Young Organists, and has served as a national Travelling Clinicians for the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He held the University of Calgary’s Cantos Music Foundation Organ Scholarship, a guest faculty position, celebrating the inauguration of the new North German Baroque organ built by the Ahrend Organ Company of Germany from 2006 until 2009. From 2000-2015 he was Head of Organ Studies at Mount Royal Conservatory in Calgary, Canada, where he worked alongside Simon Preston on the International Summer School. He offers private organ lessons in Calgary, Alberta, and also to distance-learning students via the internet. He was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award (Credit Free) by Mount Royal University in June 2014.