Boëly’s organ work presents multiple challenges to the modern performer:

• Choice of instruments: piano, pedal piano, three-hand piano, organ (which organ?), expressive organ (what is it?)
• Performance choices: should one play some polyphonic pages in a strict legato and articulate more other pages inspired by the piano or the harpsichord? What tempi should one choose? And how is one to conceive the organ adaptations of works first thought for the quartet or the piano?
• Classifying: the major part of Boëly’s work has been published posthumously and in random order. An important part remained manuscript. It is the duty of the performer to elaborate a coherent ordering, especially of the pieces of liturgical inspiration. The latter were conceived to alternate with plain-chant melodies of which the origin is not always familiar (Parisian rite).
• Understanding: The composer occupies a particular position in the organ repertory of the 19th century. It must be reread in its proper place, long before the masterworks of César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns.

Supporting this magnificent and numerous music (more than 600 keyboard pieces of a large stylistic diversity) requires a thorough knowledge of the sources and of the musical context of Boëly and, above all, a true conviction and a personal affection for the composer.