Customer Reviews

Healey Willan: Organ Works

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I learned about Healey Willan from my upbringing in the Episcopal church, where we used a number of choral pieces that he composed. This is my introduction to his organ music, and I'm not disappointed. Willan is an outstanding (and enormously prolific) modern composer. The harmonies and chordal progressions are modern, but not at all challenging to ears that like Bach. The performances here are wonderful, and will sound best if you have a stereo that can do justice to the organ. :-)

One of Canada's greatest contributors to the field of organ literature is surely Healy Willan. His best work I believe is his "Introduction, Passacaglia, and Fugue" which I have two other recordings of and is represented on this disc. Other excellent compositions (and until I found this disc unknown to me) are "Prelude and Fugue in C minor" (Track 1) and "Epilogue" (Track 16). This is big organ music with lots of drama, very much 20th century but with a strong 19th century English influence, somewhat reminiscent of the work of Howells, although there are traces of German forms as well. There are also some subtler works on this rather full disc of great music. The organ is a big Casavant (I have been made to love Casavant's as my local church runs an organ recital series on a large 4 manual instrument). Great quality recording, good liner notes. This disc should be an essential addition to the organ lover's library.