Posts tagged as "gillian-weir"

Gillian Weir – A Celebration

November 16, 2020

A 22-CD celebration of the doyenne of organists on her 80th birthday (17 January 2021) spanning her illustrious career of nearly five decades. ‘Weir is to the organ what Heifetz was to the violin, and Casals to the cello – a phenomenon,’ pronounced the celebrated broadcaster John Amis. Fittingly, this is a 22-CD celebration of […]

French Virtuoso Organ Music

November 7, 2019

A first CD release for a thrilling recital of dazzling toccatas and fantasias from the French organ tradition by one of the world’s most celebrated musicians. Installed in 1972 and built by the Austrian firm of Hradetzky, the four-manual organ at the Royal Northern College of Music was just four years old when Gillian Weir […]

Couperin: Organ Masses

April 29, 2016

Dame Gillian Weir’s first and seminal recordings were made for Argo/Decca. They have systematically been issued in Australia and the final instalment brings her recording of the two Couperin Organ Masses, expertly and enchantingly performed on the organ of the Prediger-Kirche, Zurich. The Couperin scholar David Tunley provides the engaging liner notes.

King of Instruments – The Art of Gillian Weir: Vol. 2

April 29, 2016

If the organ is the king of instruments, Dame Gillian Weir is its undisputed queen. This album provides a selection of the critically-acclaimed recordings she made in the 1970s for Decca, all of which have now been issued on Eloquence.

Mendelssohn: Motets, Psalms

April 20, 2016

Mendelssohn’s ‘Hear my prayer’ (or, in its English adaptation known as ‘O for the wings of a dove’) is a much loved piece of ‘Victoriana’, made famous by, among others, Master Ernest Lough. Often sung by boy sopranos, it is here performed by Felicity Palmer, traditionally a mezzo, but using the soprano register of her […]

Kodály: Choral Works; Bartók: Cantata Profana

April 18, 2016

Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók were Hungary’s two most important composers in the 20th century. They were both friends and colleagues, working separately and together to document and preserve folk music from Hungary and its surrounding regions. The music they collected strongly influenced their own compositions. Decca was one of the first major record companies […]

Messiaen: Organ Works

March 12, 2016

An undiscovered treasure! Recorded in 1966 but never released, are nearly 100 minutes of Messiaen performed by Gillian Weir shortly after she won the St. Alban’s Competition. At the centre of this recital is Les Corps Glorieux and the other pieces display Dame Gillian’s immense command over and total empathy with this music. The 7000+-word notes […]