Bach’s Goldberg Variations have become a fascination for me, and this was the first recording that came into my collection, as far as I can remember my first exposure to this glorious music too. Oddly though, this disc wasn’t what started the fascination – for many years it sat in… Read moreJohann Sebastian Bach – Goldberg-Variationen Orgelfassung
Within the world of contemporary avant-garde music, Charlemagne Palestine is a unique voice, someone who challenges traditional American minimalism, aiming for an emotionally charged alternative that he calls ‘maximalism’. Whereas minimalism prioritises mathematical precision, structural transparency and rhythmic phase-shifts, maximalism seeks sonic saturation in such a way that a performance… Read moreThe Organ is the worlds Greatest Syntesizer
The years 2014 and 2015 saw a cultural regeneration and blossoming in Paris, with the opening of two large concert halls at the Philharmonie de Paris and the Maison de la Radio et de la Musique. The former was part of a new development, whilst the latter was a reworking… Read moreNight Windows
I well remember hearing my first recording of the Binns organ in Rochdale Town Hall, which must have been some thirty-five years ago – Priory Records’ Great European Organs No.20, with Jonathan Bielby playing the complete works of John Ireland, plus other late romantic English music. At that time, I… Read morePercy Whitlock Organ Sonata
This wonderfully atmospheric recording by Priory Records combines an unusual (and, I’m sure, unknown to many) German organ in a gothic French cathedral with a selection of German romantic works including several rarely heard pieces by Karg-Elert scored for organ, violin and soprano. The music follows the theme of ‘Abendlied’… Read moreAbendlied
I first encountered Jan Welmers’ organ music on a disc by Audite, featuring just four relatively long pieces. The disc grouped them as minimalist, and they certainly do feature the characteristic repeated patterns of sound, but they are something much more than this. Welmers combines those simple elements of minimalism… Read moreJan Welmers – Organ Works
The combination of Priory Records, Lincoln Cathedral and Colin Walsh is a definite winner, as evidenced through numerous recordings, most of it of the French romantics (Walsh’s great love) but with forays into “popular” fare, and a couple of Bach releases too. This album of romantic English music is a… Read moreEnglish Organ Music
Sometimes there are recordings which come along and simply delight beyond all expectation. This release by Organum Classics is one of these. The premise already looked good on paper, with a talented young organist playing on a modern, historically informed organ a programme juxtaposing established baroque works with relatively challenging… Read moreCirculi
How tastes change! In 1965 EMI’s legendary “Great Cathedral Organs” series visited Gloucester Cathedral to record Herbert Sumsion on the “Willis” organ – not a thoroughbred by any means. This was Father Henry Willis’s first cathedral organ in 1847, based on an existing instrument with mixed roots – but he… Read moreEnglish Organ Music of the 19th and 20th Centuries
This is a most intriguing disc of organ meets computer meets dub techno! The composer-performer is Brussels-based Frenchman Maxime Denuc who explores the organ creativity through technological advances. My attention was drawn to his work through the 2020 album Solarium, a collaboration between Denuc and organist Cindy Castillo – the… Read moreNachthorn, for midi-controlled organ
