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

The grand swell and floating poetry of César Franck’s works for organ have long given rise to descriptions such as musical incense, which focus on their numinous spiritual address, perhaps at the expense of their ingenious construction, which may owe much to a Wagnerian, leitmotivically inspired process of continuous development but also to older models of the French organ school – and which in turn became influential for the next two generations of French organ composers such as Dupré and Duruflé.

The Three Chorals and the Pièce héroïque are relatively well known now, at least in recital (their technical difficulties place them beyond the reach of many church organists, and a few church organs, come to that), but beyond those late and deeply intimate explorations are some spectacular transformations of Bachian counterpoint into 19th-century showpieces such as the Final in B flat. Adriano Falcioni (b.1975) recently won golden opinions for his recital at the organ of Sheffield Cathedral, and has performed on the instruments of many great European churches and cathedrals.

This particular recording was made in the Basilica of S.Maria degli Angeli in Assisi: a beautiful church in its own right, made only more so by acting as an ecclesiastical shell for the chapel of the Porziuncola, which is known as the birthplace of the Franciscan order: St Francis himself died but a few metres from the door of the chapel, well within the grounds of what is now a spectacular basilica.

The first recording of the restored organ of Paisley Abbey, played by the doyen of Scottish organists, George McPhee.

Completely restored and extended by Harrison & Harrison in 2009, Paisley Abbey organ is one of the finest organs in Scotland and is a thrilling and colourful sound in a glorious acoustic. Originally dating from 1872 the core of the organ is by famous French builder, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. As befitting its historic pedigree the repertoire is a selection of well-known, and some less well-known, works by nineteenth- and twentieth-century French composers.

Severin is an organist and composer and he has written a work on the registration of European organ music. Severin performs these works on the organ of St. Martin, Dudelange, Luxembourg. The recital includes Three Chorales and Grande Pièce Symphonique.

This new recording of some of Cesar Franck's greatest organ works by the widely praised young British organist Colin Walsh, Organist Laureate, at the magnificent instrument in Lincoln Cathedral is a significant addition to the catalogue of organ music. From the Trois Chorales, composed in Franck's final months - he kept the manuscript of them by his death-bed - to the well-known Pièce Héroïque and the beautiful Cantabile, this collection spans virtually the entire gamut of this great composer's music for the one instrument above all which is central to his art. The recording quality is state-of-the-art.

The eccentric Percy Grainger was well-known for his musical arrangements which ranged from works by other composers as well as arrangements of his own original and folk music settings. These arrangements form a body of

work which is perhaps unique in musical history.

Most of the works on this CD are taken from a series Grainger named Chosen Gems for Winds. Grainger had a musical mind of unusual breadth and vision, with interests spanning the ages from mediaeval music to the latest twentieth century developments and had the vision to see this context of the wind orchestra setting. It is likely that enlisting in the American Army as a bandsman at the outbreak of World War I, cemented his interest in wind band music, along with an awareness of Stokowski’s Bach transcriptions.