Hyperion Records | Organ Fireworks, Vol. 10

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Bastille Day at Lorient (1892) by Henry Moret (1856-1913)
Galerie L'Ergasterre, Paris / Bridgeman Art Library, London

CDA67458

Buy? £13.99

Recording details: June 2003
Concert Hall of the Francis Winspear Centre, Edmonton, Canada
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Simon Eadon & Ron Yachimec
Release date: January 2004
Total duration: 72 minutes 42 seconds
Available for download on iTunes: Yes

View sleeve notes/artwork

'...other recitalists please follow suit!' (The Organ)

'Herrick portrays it as a persuasive, powerful and utterly compelling entity in which every note holds the listener in thrall, while this huge 96-stop Canadian organ has more colour than even Liszt, in his wildest dreams, could ever have imagined' (Gramophone)

'He brings enthusiasm and boundless energy to whatever repertoire he tackles. Apt registrations, dexterous clarity, and phrase-making metrical verve inform his performances … The sound on this release is excellent' (Fanfare, USA)

Organ Fireworks, Vol. 10

Christopher Herrick (organ)

		Våg å leve 'Dare to live' Mons Leidvin Takle (b1942)
1		Movement 06: Blues-Toccata [4:04]
2		Siyahamba 'We are marching in the light of God' [3:05] John A Behnke (b1953)
		Esquisses byzantines Henri Mulet (1878-1967)
3		No 10: Tu es petra et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus te [4:55]
		Variations on an Easter Theme 'O filii et filiae' John Rutter (b1945)
4		Movement 1: Majestic [1:17] Jeremy Spurgeon (organ)
5		Movement 2: A little slower [0:40] Jeremy Spurgeon (organ)
6		Movement 3: Slow [1:23] Jeremy Spurgeon (organ)
7		Movement 4: Fast and rhythmic [0:56] Jeremy Spurgeon (organ)
8		Movement 5: Slow and expressive [2:25] Jeremy Spurgeon (organ)
9		Movement 6: Fast – Broad and majestic – Fast [1:25] Jeremy Spurgeon (organ)
10		Trumpet Tune in G [3:14] David Johnson (1922-1988)
		Suite, Op 5 Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
11		Movement 3: Toccata [8:41]
		Poèmes d'automne, Op 3 Joseph Bonnet (1884-1944)
12		No 2: Matin provençal [5:22]
		Fiesta! Iain Farrington (b1977)
13		Movement 1: Celebration [2:07]
14		Movement 3: Stride Dance [2:17]
		Le prophète Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864)
15		Excerpt: The Anabaptists' Chorale [0:52]
		Fantasie und Fuge über den Choral Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, S259 Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
16		Part 1: Fantasy [9:23]
17		Part 2a: Recitative – Adagio [8:15]
18		Part 2b: Adagio – Allegro deciso [2:07]
19		Part 3: Fugue [10:14]

Christopher Herrick’s ongoing tour of the world’s greatest organs gives rise here to a truly glorious disc from Canada. The 96-stop, 6,551-pipe 2002 Letourneau organ of The Winspear Centre, Edmonton, Canada – a veritable beast of an instrument, described by Herrick as ‘terrific … fantastic … a very fine instrument’ – produces a sound which is, in every sense, awesome. Hyperion’s engineers have captured the pyrotechnics in all their devastating glory.

The programme is varied, starting with an unashamedly jazzy Blues-Toccata and Behnke’s version of the South African ‘freedom song’ We are marching in the light of God, progressing through works by Mulet, Johnson, Duruflé and Bonnet, to movements from Iain Farrington’s Fiesta!, written for Herrick’s sixtieth birthday celebrations last year. Crowning proceedings is Liszt’s epic Fantasia and Fugue on ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’, a half-hour extemporization on Meyerbeer’s theme and one of those organ works which finally won for the instrument a place of its own in the musical firmament, finally emancipated from the church loft and taking centre-stage on the concert platform.

For John Rutter’s Variations on an Easter Theme, Herrick is joined by the Canadian organist Jeremy Spurgeon, here making his debut on Hyperion.