Hyperion Records | Organ Fireworks, Vol. 07

CDA66917

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: July 1996
Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík, Iceland
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Paul Niederberger
Release date: April 1997
Total duration: 69 minutes 29 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

'This performance [Reubke] surpasses any version yet to appear on CD. I can't think of any other organ record which I've found so unfailingly magnificent' (Gramophone)

Organ Fireworks, Vol. 07

Christopher Herrick (organ)

1		Trumpet Tune in F [2:49] David Johnson (1922-1988)
2		Deuxième Offertoire sur des Noëls, Op 33 [6:12] Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
3		Variations sur un Noël angevin [6:34] Gaston Litaize (1909-1991)
		Twelve Pieces, Op 10 Joseph Bonnet (1884-1944)
4		No 1: In Memoriam – The Titanic [9:05]
5		Improvisation: 'Nearer my God to Thee' [8:00] Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
		Sonata on the 94th Psalm Julius Reubke (1834-1858)
6		Movement 1: Grave – Larghetto – Allegro con fuoco [11:41]
7		Movement 2: Adagio [6:16]
8		Movement 3: Fugue. Allegro [6:49]
9		Offertoire pour le jour de Noël [5:32] Louis-James-Alfred Lefebure-Wely (1817-1870)
10		Prelude on 'Von Himmel hoch' [1:57] Martin Luther (1483-1546), arr. Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)
11		Toccata 'Von Himmel hoch' [4:34] Martin Luther (1483-1546), arr. Garth Edmundson (1900-1971)

The Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík is an extraordinary building. And inside it there is an extraordinary organ. Playing that organ here is Christopher Herrick and this seventh volume of 'Organ Fireworks' presents the customary collection of splendour and devastating sound.

At the centre of the disc, and in a set of pieces to do with maritime misfortune (and particularly the sinking of the Titanic in 1912), is the Reubke Sonata, one of the masterworks of the concert organists' repertoire.