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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Romantic and Virtuoso Works for Organ - Volume 3
Jane Parker-Smith (at The Organ of The Church of St.Gudula in Rhede) Jane Parker-Smith releases her third volume of romantic and virtuoso works for organ. Here we see original pieces by Saint-Saëns, Wiedermann, Landmann, Bairstow Hubert H. Parry, Gárdonyi and two arrangements: Lizst’s magnificent Symphonic Poem Orpheus, in a transcription by Jean Guillou and the Scherzo Symphonique by Pierre Cochereau, transription by Jeremy Filsell. Jane Parker-Smith is one of the world’s leading concert organists, acclaimed by the critics and public alike for her musicianship, virtuosity and interpretative ability. She has been awarded numerous prizes and scholarships, including a French government scholarship which enabled her to complete her studies in Paris with the legendary blind organist Jean Langlais and to perfect her knowledge and understanding of twentieth-century organ music for which she is now internationally renowned. The Organ of the Catholic Parish Church of St. Gudula in Rhede The instrument, built in 1998 by Romanus Seifert & Sohn of Kevelaer Germany, has 52 stops, divided into 3 manuals and a pedal. The organ is equipped with a slider soundboard with a tracker action and electric stop control. Located behind the organ case are the Great organ, the Positif (expressive) and the Pedal organ. Behind this lies the Swell. The large wooden pipes of the Subbass 32’ are positioned at the back of the organ and these can be viewed from the entrance hall to the tower. 14 stops were taken from its predecessor (Horstenke, Telgte 1874 and Breil, Dorsten 1902/1937) as well as from the stock of historic stops kept by the Seifert workshop. Thus an artistically ‘universal’ organ came into being, with stylistic references to the German and French late Romantic period. “Once again Jane Parker-Smith has produced a high-class display of her impeccable musicianship, mixing well known repertory with several overlooked and neglected pieces. This generously filled disc makes a refreshing listening experience. Strongly recommended.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009 “Light (and not so light) relief, as the virtuosic Parker-Smith continues he exploration of some unusual repertoire. The dazzling Cochereau Scherzo symphonique shows off both organist and an excitingly recorded organ in Rhede, Germany.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2009 **** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Saint-Saëns - Organ Works
Andrew-John Smith (Organ of La Madeleine, Paris) Despite his modern fame, much of Saint-Saëns’s music was under-appreciated in his lifetime, and many of his organ
works remain little known. His adherence to Classical principles—enshrined in the works of his idols Bach, Mozart,
Schubert and Mendelssohn—and his antipathy towards what he perceived as the louche modernism of the Romantic
movement hardly endeared him to congregations or clergy, long gorged on the fripperies offered by contemporary
organists and somewhat resistant to being ‘told what was good for them’.
But as a performer his prodigious talent could not be ignored and by 1858, aged just twenty-three, he found himself
at the console of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s brand-new organ at La Madeleine in Paris—four manuals, 48 stops and an
unprecendented symphonic wall of sound lay at his disposal. (He also found the instrument, occupying the entire West
wall of this enormous edifice, spacious enough to accommodate a constant stream of stars from the international
musical firmament, including Liszt, Sarasate, Clara Schumann and Anton Rubinstein.) He was to hold the post for some
twenty years.
The earliest works in Andrew-John Smith’s programme were composed during Saint-Saëns’s tenure at La Madeleine
and it is a rare delight to be able to hear them performed on the organ the composer knew and so loved (and using only
the registrations available to him at the time). For later compositions Smith employs some of the subsequent additions
to Cavaillé-Coll’s original conception; the effects are thrilling and reflect contemporary reports of Saint-Saëns’s own
performance practice—much of it unusual then and now—as his travels took him around France playing Cavaillé-
Coll’s ever-more gargantuan organistic creations.
The English organist and conductor Andrew-John Smith was educated as an organ scholar at New College, Oxford and
the Sweelinck Conservatorium, Amsterdam. Described by Choir & Organ magazine as ‘a rare pleasure in Britain’ he
performs regularly in Europe and has recorded and broadcast as soloist and accompanist both for the BBC and abroad.
A Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, he has been a finalist for the Grand Prix de Chartres, and a prize-winner at
the Royal College of Organists’ ‘Performer of the Year’ and the St Albans’ International Organ Festival. This is his first
recording for Hyperion. “[Saint-Saens' preludes, fugues and fantasies] are brilliantly played by the hugely talented Smith on the great Cavaille-Coll instrument that Saint-Saens knew.” The Observer, 13th July 2008 “…Smith's warm and sympathetic rubato is a constant delight, and his inspired choice to make the recording on an instrument played regularly be Saint-Saëns means that listeners can relish the authentic Gallic tones of the splendid La Madeleine organ.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Saint-Saëns - Complete Organ Works & Motets, Volume 4
Vincent Genvrin (organ Cavaille-Coll, Santa Maria la Real d’Azkoitia) | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Saint-Saëns - Fantasies
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| |  | Saint-Saëns - Music for Organ
Margaret Phillips (organ of Exeter Cathedral) | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Volume VIII - Newcastle
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| |  | Organ HistoryFrench Romanticism
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