Customer Reviews

Organ Fireworks V

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I'm very fond of organ music, expecially romantic and contemporary works. I did't know Nielsen's "Commotio", a real masterpiece, in his mixture of hypnotic treatment of harmony and strength of contrapuntal plot, into a balanced modern sensitivity. The great mechanical organ of Turku is the best you can find for this music; a spectacular recording and performance of C. Herrick do the rest. Roberto Ranieri

I side with "Avid Reader" on this one! I've offered reviews of other volumes of this series, and in fact I own all of them. Christopher Herrick can always be counted on to play with great skill and energy on anything he sets his mind to record (and he is a VERY prolific recording artist). The Nielsen "Commotio" is a large-scale piece by an important composer, and quite ill-represented on recordings. It's good to have a good recording of it, but this organ is hideous - screechy, thin - not much to love there - and really this recording didn't win me over to the piece. Herrick is great, and his selection of instruments is remarkably eclectic, but it sometimes seems he has chosen certain organs as token representatives of a particular country rather than out of any intrinsinc musical quality. I enjoy some of the repertoire, so I'm less inclined to level criticism at the programming than "Avid Reader" was, but this is definitely the "weak sister" of the series. Volume 1 (Westminster Abbey), Volume XIII (I think that's the volume - Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas), and especially Volume III (Saint-Eustache, Paris) are the volumes to get, unless you are wanting to buy the whole series, or are keen to get a recording of some of the rarer pieces here. Otherwise, I'd steer clear of this one!

I'm not sure who assembled this particular array of works but they need to return to the drawing board. While admitting a preference for the Reubke/Rheinberger/Reger Germanic side and the Guilmant/ Widor/Vierne/Boellmann Gallic side I do appreciate other things. But several works seems forced at best, not "organistic" in the sense that Bach or Franck's works are. The many variations presented seem shallow if one is looking for genuine "fireworks".

Then there is the "fabulous" organ (that's a joke) at the Turku Cathedral in Finland. The sound was tinny, hollow at times, lacking the color of the French, the depth of the Germans and the expressiveness of the Benelux organs. Also - and I hate to complain - the recording acoustics are just terrible! Mr. Herricks is a remarkable organist, a musician of the first order, but even he cannot turn this collection into something presentable.