Peter Hurford plays The Organ at Sydney Opera House

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Release Date: 12th Apr 2019
Catalogue No: ELQ4840351
Label: Eloquence
Length: 53 minutes

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Bach, J S: Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV565

Work length9:21

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Bach, J S: Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben Cantata, BWV 147 - Arr. Peter Hurford

Work length3:12

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring

Track length3:12

$1.10

$1.50

Albinoni: Adagio for Strings and Organ in G minor

Work length8:21

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Clarke, Jeremiah: Trumpet Tune

Work length2:46

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Excerpt, Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream - incidental music, Op. 61

Work length4:08

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

9. Wedding March

Track length4:08

$1.10

$1.50

Franck, C: Choral No. 2 in B minor, M. 39

Work length12:54

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Herbert Murrill: Carillon for Organ

Work length2:22

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Davies, Walford: Solemn Melody

Work length4:11

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

Excerpt, Widor: Organ Symphony No. 5 in F minor, Op. 42 No. 1

Work length6:16

$1.10

$1.50

Peter Hurford (organ)
Recorded: 1982-08-22
Recording Venue: Opera House Concert Hall Sydney

5. Toccata (Allegro)

Track length6:16

$1.10

$1.50

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About

While playing organs worldwide, and concentrating his work in his native England, Peter Hurford nonetheless gave recitals on organs across Australia throughout his long career. However, he hardly played an instrument more dazzling in its impact and variety than the organ which was installed at the Sydney Opera House.

Completed in May 1979 at a cost of $1.2 million, the organ has come to be regarded as one of the finest such instruments in the southern hemisphere. Among the world’s largest mechanical-action organs, it was built by an Australian, Ronald Sharpe and, during the final phase of construction, the Austrian organ-building firm of Gregor Hradetzky.

Both the instrument and Hurford’s rhythmically animated playing are justly immortalised by this album of popular organ classics. It begins with the toccata and fugue which was almost certainly not written for organ and probably not composed by Bach, but is destined to be associated with both in the public imagination. Likewise the Adagio that is no more or less than Giazotto’s reworking and Romantic elaboration of a slender theme ‘by’ Albinoni.

Whoever it was by, every piece on this compendious introduction to organ literature is richly enjoyable, and Hurford duly enjoys all the colours of the Sydney organ by, almost literally, pulling out all the stops during the course of the album. In the hands of Hurford, Herbert Murrill’s Carillon is a dazzling feat of prestidigitation, and the Sydney trumpets will test out the most exacting audio equipment here and in the album’s inevitable conclusion, the Toccata from Widor’s Fifth Symphony.

‘This is the sort of programme with which organs are baptized … There is a springiness in the playing which comes up fresh every time … All very good value.’ Gramophone, June 1983

‘Here’s a bit of fun. Imagine the astonishment of Purcell and Bach, leading from the bar of heaven to listen to the Trumpet Tune and Jesu, joy on an organ beyond their wildest imaginings. Hurford plays as scrupulously for a popular audience as for the stuffiest international jury.’ Musical Times, December 1983

Peter Hurford plays The Organ at Sydney Opera House

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