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PROGRAMME
Sinfonia from Cantata 29
Ancient Greek Hymns
Präludium in G-minor
Capriol: Suite on old French dance-tunes from Arbeau's 'Orchésographie' (1589)
Clair de Lune
Toccata
Naïades
Fantasia on the Chorale
Total playing time: 62:10
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What the press has said:'An entertaining mixture of pieces, displaying all the colours of this marvellous Willis organ. Rhodes is an incisive and exuberant player; his rapid pacing and subjective freedom are reminiscent of American organists such as Virgil Fox or Carlo Curley. The technical excellence of the playing is matched by the fine recording.'
Gramophone'Julian Rhodes explores every facet of this amazing instrument in an enterprising programme; his playing is flamboyant, characterful and unfailingly musical, gripping the listener's attention from first note to last. He includes three arrangements of his own - the Bach Cantata 29 Sinfonia (somewhat in the Curley manner, with driving rhythm and loads of detail, making the better-known Dupré arrangement seem positively staid!), three ancient Greek hymns by Mesomedes of Crete (with drone basses added to the original monodies, featuring a swirling 4ft flute in the first, and snarling reeds and a clever drum effect in the third) and Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite (sheer bliss - a kaleidoscope of gorgeous sounds!). From the standard repertoire come Jongen's Toccata (very fast - real edge-of-the-seat stuff), Vierne's Clair de Lune (played with wonderful poise and sensitivity) and Naiades (also very fast; the effect is breathtaking). The crowning glory of the disc is a terrific performance of Reger's great Fantasia on "How brightly shines the morning star", played at white heat, and apparently recorded in a single take.'
The Organ Club Journal'Very stylishly played, often with amazing virtuosity. This is a very welcome CD from one of our rising organ stars - I for one await its successor.'
The Organ
Programme notes by Julian Rhodes
The Sinfonia in D by J.S. Bach heralds the entrance to the Temple of Tone. It began life as the first movement of the Sixth Partita for solo violin: arranged firstly by the composer for his 29th Church Cantata "We Thank Thee, God", and re-arranged here for solo organ, it is a jubilant musical shout of praise.The organ boasts an ancient lineage. Invented in Hellenic Egypt in the 3rd-century B.C., it became popular in both Greek and Roman worlds. The Emperor Nero was an enthusiastic organist, while Mesomedes of Crete, a favourite of the Emperor Hadrian, is a more shadowy figure. In these three hymn-arrangements his spare, sinewy melodic lines are underpinned by drone accompaniments.
In the Präludium in G-minor, Diderik Buxtehude creates a musical paradigm of the great North-European churches in which he played. Soaring arcs and solid columns of sound are loosed into the vast gothic spaces. The two mediums illumine each other perfectly: architecture as frozen music; music as living geometry.
Peter Warlock's "Capriol" suite is pure musical nostalgia. Based on vigorous, earthy 16th-century dance tunes, it infuses them with the bitter-sweetness of the English pastoral school. Originally composed for string orchestra, it makes a colourful and effective organ transcription. A large tonal palette is explored in the course of the six movements, from renaissance reeds to romantic strings, ending with the full power of the instrument.
In the 19th-century, France and Belgium produced a new wave of organist-composers who furthered the organ's role as a concert instrument. Louis Vierne, in the darkness of his physical blindness, created the most richly coloured musical canvasses, inviting immediate comparison with the art of Monet. "Clair de Lune" is a musical pastel in soft colours; it presents one of the most ethereal melodies ever written for the organ. In complete contrast, "Naïades" evokes the play of mythical water-spirits in iridescent sprays of sound. Joseph Jongen's gritty "Toccata" is perhaps the best of its genre. A sizzling tableau of musical scarlet, it drives remorselessly onwards to a stark, menacing conclusion.
Max Reger's fantasia on the chorale "How Brightly Shines the Morning Star" is itself a Temple of Tone. Here, the composer pays homage to the era of Buxtehude and Bach, both in the form of the piece - introduction, variations, and fugue - and in his choice of theme, an old church melody. The work includes both the declamatory and the sensually intimate, flavoured throughout with luxuriant, fin-de-siècle chromaticism. The mood of hope suggested by the words of the chorale finally prevails, building to one of the most shatteringly triumphant conclusions in the literature.
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Electronic music - Sinfonia from Cantata 29