Notes and Editorial Reviews
At long last, a 'spectacular' that lives up to the description
This is neither the first, nor will it be the last, recording to be billed as an “Organ Spectacular”. But it is one of the very few where that title is not only entirely apt but verges on the understatement.
First, there is spectacular music. Guy Bovet's Hamburger Totentanz combines humour (not least with a delicious quotation from Für Elise) and brilliant organ effects in a way which can only be described as spectacular, Murrill's Carillon sets that spectacular St Paul's acoustic buzzing, while the Bairstow Scherzo sets off some spectacular aural fireworks.
Second, there is some truly spectacular playing. Huw Williams shows
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himself not just a master at this particular gargantuan instrument but has real musical perceptiveness, bringing to spectacular life music which many of us might take for granted. That most spectacular organ showpiece of them all, Widor's Toccata, receives here a performance which, in a market which is not so much saturated as overwhelmed, comes very near the top of my list of favourites, while even such reserved gems as Whitlock's lovely Folk Tune and Howells's haunting Master Tallis's Testament come over with unusual depth and intensity.
And finally there is a truly spectacular organ. Oddly, the disc is billed as being “the last solo recording of the instrument before the organ undergoes major refurbishment and restoration”, which makes it seem as if we are hearing something on its very last legs. But that is not the case at all; you'd have to go a very long way to hear an organ which can set the spine shivering and the goose-bumps erupting so powerfully as the St Paul's instrument does with the build up to the spectacular climax of Thalben-Ball's Elegy.
In short, a truly spectacular disc which can be unreservedly recommended to anyone who has even the remotest interest in organ music.
-- Marc Rochester, Gramophone [1/2007]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Préludes Hambourgeois (3): no 3, Hamburg "Hamburger Totentanz" by Guy Bovet
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1969-1981
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 5 Minutes 9 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
Composition written: 1969 - 1981.
2.
Abdelazer, Z 570 "Moor's Revenge": Rondeau by Henry Purcell
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Baroque
Written: 1695; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 2 Minutes 23 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
3.
Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 "Enigma": Variation 9, Nimrod by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1898-1899; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 3 Minutes 53 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sir William Henry Harris.
St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
4.
Sortie for Organ in E flat major by Louis J.A. Lefébure-Wely
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
5.
Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes (3) for Organ: no 2, Rhosymedre by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1920; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 4 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
6.
Elegy for Organ by Sir George Thalben-Ball
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1918; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 5 Minutes 28 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Noel Rawsthorne.
St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
7.
Pièces dans different styles pour orgue, Op. 19: Interlude by Felix Alexandre Guilmant
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
8.
Capriccio for Organ by John Ireland
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1911; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 5 Minutes 6 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
9.
Le Prophète: Coronation March by Giacomo Meyerbeer
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1849; Germany
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 5 Minutes 6 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
10.
Master Tallis's Testament by Herbert Howells
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1940; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 6 Minutes 44 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
11.
Sonata for Organ in E flat major: Scherzo by Edward Bairstow
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1937; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 3 Minutes 46 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
12.
Short Pieces (5) for Organ: no 2, Folk Tune by Percy Whitlock
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1929; England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 3 Minutes 58 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
13.
Pieces (10) for Organ: no 8, Scherzo in E major/G minor by Eugene Gigout
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 4 Minutes 28 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
14.
Carillon by Herbert Murill
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 2 Minutes 23 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
15.
Processional for Organ by William Mathias
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1964; Wales, UK
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 3 Minutes 31 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
16.
Suite in D major: Prince of Denmark's March "Trumpet Voluntary" by Jeremiah Clarke
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Baroque
Written: England
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 3 Minutes 31 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
17.
Symphony for Organ no 5 in f minor, Op. 42 no 1: 5th movement, Toccata by Charles-Marie Widor
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: ?1880; Paris, France
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 5 Minutes 35 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
18.
Toccata for Organ by Théodore Dubois
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Romantic
Written: France
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 4 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
19.
Terpsichore: no 21, Ballets des Matelots by Michael Praetorius
Performer:
Huw Williams (Organ)
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1612; Germany
Venue: St Paul's Cathedral, London
Length: 4 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Noel Rawsthorne.
St Paul's Cathedral, London (02/08/2005 - 02/10/2005)
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