Notes and Editorial Reviews
A tasty array of goodies from Dame Gillian, topped off with a teatime treat.
Gillian Weir has devised an ingenious programme of 11 toccatas; they come from five countries and span four centuries, so there's plenty of musical variety. One can relish the sparkle and flow of Bach's string-based keyboard writing and his peerless counterpoint in the Dorian Toccata and Fugue. Equally enjoyable are the many contrasting moods during the toccatas by Buxtehude, Muffat and Rossi. It's also a pleasure to hear some rarely performed pieces such as the toccatas by Mushel and Slonimsky with their tongue-in-cheek quality, the majesty and ecstasy of Peeters's plainsong-based work, and Saint-Martin's heroic composition.
All
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these different elements are superbly conveyed by Gillian Weir who brings a youthful vigour to everything she plays. Only in the toccatas by Heiller and Planyavsky does one wish for more vivid characterisation of the dance/rumba styles and the composers's detailed articulation markings. Birmingham's four-manual 82-stop Klais organ doesn't help as it has a surprising lack of clarity and impact plus an unsatisfying harshness in forte passages. On the credit side, it does possess many delightful quiet registers and it provides huge dynamic changes in Reger's frenetic Toccata followed by an awesome, gigantic crescendo throughout the fugue.
Alongside the 11 toccatas is William McVicker's inventive and witty variations on Youmans's “Tea for Two”; a brilliant essay in musical pastiche. Hopefully Weir's splendid performance will stimulate other recitalists to programme this piece - it should prove an instant hit!
-- Christopher Nickol, Gramophone [1/2007]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 "Dorian" by Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: Baroque
Written: 1708-1717; Weimar, Germany
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
2.
Toccata for Keyboard in F major, BuxWV 156 by Dietrich Buxtehude
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
3.
Pieces (12) for Organ, Op. 59 "Orgelmesse": no 5, Toccata in D minor by Max Reger
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901; Germany
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
4.
Pieces (12) for Organ, Op. 59 "Orgelmesse": no 6, Fugue in D major by Max Reger
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1901; Germany
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
5.
Tanz-Toccata for Organ by Anton Heiller
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1970
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
6.
Apparatus musico-organisticus: Toccata no 12 in B flat major by Georg Muffat
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: Baroque
Written: by 1690; Germany
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
7.
Toccata for Organ by Sergei Slonimsky
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: USSR
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
8.
Toccata for Organ by Georgy Mushel
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
9.
Toccate e corenti d'intavolatura: Toccata no 7 by Michelangelo Rossi
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: Baroque
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
10.
Toccata, Fugue and Hymn on "Ave Maris Stella", Op. 28 by Flor Peeters
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1931; Belgium
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
11.
Variations (6) for Organ on a Theme of Vincent Youmans "Tea for Two" by William McVicker
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
12.
Toccata alla Rumba by Peter Planyavsky
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: Austria
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
13.
Toccata de Liberation by Léonce De Saint-Martin
Performer:
Gillian Weir (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1944; France
Venue: Live Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
Notes: Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England (08/22/2005 - 08/25/2005)
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