Organ Fireworks XII

[Cover graphic]

Compact Disc CDA67612

£13.99

Christopher Herrick’s enduring Organ Fireworks series on Hyperion is one of the most comprehensive and popular collections of repertoire in existence. For this twelfth volume he turns to the great organ of Haderslev Cathedral in Denmark, and performs a fascinating range of works with his usual triumphal panache.

A number of these pieces have a Danish connection, including two spirited works by Buxtehude who probably grew up in Denmark, and Tre Tonestykker by Niels Wilhelm Gade, a native of Copenhagen who was admired by Mendelssohn.

The third of Dupré’s Trois Préludes et Fugues is among the best-known and most popular of his works, notwithstanding its fearful technical difficulties. The final page, in which the notes hurtle towards the magnificent final cadence, places this among the most memorable of all fugues for organ.

The Czech composer Petr Eben (1929–2007) is represented by his Hommage à Buxtehude.

Recorded on 12 and 13 April 2007

Recording Engineer: SIMON EADON
Recording Producer: PAUL SPICER
Front Picture Research: RICHARD HOWARD
Booklet Editor: TIM PARRY
Executive Producers: SIMON PERRY; SVEND PRIP

Duration: 76'47
DDD
Front illustration: Fireworks at Fontainebleau to Celebrate the Marriage of Le Duc d’Orléans (1837) by Camille-Joseph-Etienne Roqueplan (1803–1855)

Organ Fireworks XII

CHRISTOPHER HERRICK
Organ of Haderslev Cathedral, Denmark

Contents:

DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE (c1637–1707) Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne in C major BuxWV 137 [5'13]
DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE Prelude and Fugue in G minor BuxWV 148 [6'39]
PETR EBEN (1929–2007) Hommage à Buxtehude [8'23]
Con enfasi, ma più Allegro che Buxtehude [1'31]
Ben ritmico [2'31]
Scherzando [1'38]
Tempo I [2'44]
NIELS WILHELM GADE (1817–1890) Tone Piece in F major Op 22 No 1 from Tre Tonestykker [5'01]
JOSEPH RHEINBERGER (1839–1901) Fantasia on ‘Tonus Peregrinus’ from Sonata No 4 in A minor Op 98 [7'50]
LOUIS VIERNE (1870–1937) Carillon de Westminster Op 54 No 6 from Pièces de fantaisie [6'28]
MARCEL DUPRÉ (1886–1971) Prelude and Fugue in G minor Op 7 No 3 [7'22]
Prelude [3'58]
Fugue [3'24]
JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897) Academic Festival Overture Op 80 arr. Edwin Lemare [10'28]
SIGFRID KARG-ELERT (1877–1933) Passacaglia and Fugue on B.A.C.H. Op 150 [19'20]
Passacaglia [12'41]
Fugue [6'39]

Sleeve Notes

'The unfailingly superb Christopher Herrick… This instrument is just right for this music, and the sumptuous Hyperion sound captures it all with great clarity … These are fireworks good and proper, lit with unerring precision and vividly displayed … Herrick has come up with performances of the two great French show-pieces which are so perfectly suited to the instrument that these wonderful performances stand as yardsticks … You have, for my money at least, the most glitteringly splendiferous set of Fireworks so far (International Record Review)

See also:: Organ Fireworks I; Organ Fireworks II; Organ Fireworks III; Organ Fireworks IV; Organ Fireworks IX; Organ Fireworks V; Organ Fireworks VI; Organ Fireworks VII; Organ Fireworks VIII; Organ Fireworks X; Organ Fireworks XI