Posts tagged as "simon-preston-series"

Simon Preston at Westminster Abbey

November 27, 2017

From 1962 (when he made his Royal Festival Hall debut) to 1967 and again from 1981 to 1987, Simon Preston held posts at Westminster Abbey, initially as sub-organist then as organist and master of the choristers. These recordings were made during that first period: signing off the compilation in style, Widor’s ‘Toccata’ was in fact […]

Variations on America – Organ Spectacular

November 27, 2017

An original album from the last days of the Argo label and a spectacular display of virtuosity in both composition and performance. Simon Preston had been a recording artist for almost three decades when in March 1988, he recorded this collection at the organ of the Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Boston. The instrument itself […]

Messiaen: Organ Works

November 27, 2017

Simon Preston’s complete recordings of Messiaen for Argo and Decca, newly remastered and compiled for the first time in a 2CD release. Preston championed Messiaen’s organ works both in recital and on disc, at a time when they were relatively unknown in England. Incredibly, he made his first Messiaen recording – of ‘L’Ascension’ – at […]

Romantic Organ Music

November 27, 2017

Music from five original Argo albums, newly remastered and compiled together for the first time in a 2CD set, with new booklet notes on the music and a tribute to Simon Preston. During the 1960s, it often seemed as if a new Simon Preston organ LP appeared every few months: so much in demand was […]

Twentieth-Century Organ Music

November 27, 2017

Three original Argo albums demonstrating the vitality and variety of 20th-century organ music, newly remastered and compiled together for the first time in a 2CD set, with new booklet notes on the music and a tribute to Simon Preston. Simon Preston had only left King’s College, Cambridge, (where he had been organ scholar) the previous […]

Christmas at Westminster Abbey

October 13, 2017

At the age of 22, in 1963 when he became sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey, Simon Preston was already the anointed Crown Prince of the King of Instruments. The reputation of his virtuosity and stylish response to a repertoire of five centuries had spread far before him. Having left the Abbey in 1967, he then returned […]

Poulenc, Saint-Saëns: Choral Works

October 13, 2017

Camille Saint-Saëns was only 21 years of age when he wrote his Mass Op. 4 but the craftsmanship of both its vocal and instrumental writing, testifies to the accomplishment of an experienced composer at a tender age: as a prodigious student at the Paris Conservatoire he was awarded a first prize in organ at just […]

Stravinsky, Poulenc: Choral Works

September 11, 2017

The Argo LP of the ‘Symphony of Psalms’ and ‘Canticum Sacrum’ caused a stir when it was first issued in 1975. All previous recordings had used female voices for the upper parts but Stravinsky specifically asks for children’s voices in the Symphony and his old-fashioned score markings in the ‘Canticum Sacrum’ suggest that he had […]