Poulenc Concerto for Organ

Poulenc Concerto for OrganGillian Weir and the English Chamber Orchestra bring a dazzling collection of works for organ and orchestra, performed on the 1995 Marcussen & Son, at St. Augustine's Chapel, Tonbridge School. Along with a superb performance of the Poulenc and Barber works, this new disc features the premiere recording of Pierre Petit's Concertino for Organ, Strings and Percussion. The quality of the recording is extremely high and well captures the clarity and nuances of the music.

Review comments:

“Dame Gillian has recorded the Poulenc before... that performance was very fine, but this one's better. There is an utterly natural intelligibility to this recording that is profoundly absorbing.”
AVGuide.com

“This gets my vote as the best classical disc of the month, and one of the three or four very best SACD discs yet. Weir is a fabulous soloist... I give this five stars.” John Sunier, Audiophile Audition, September 2002

“Gillian Weir, conductor David Hill, and the English Chamber Orchestra offer the most blisteringly exciting Poulenc Organ Concerto on disc, possibly of all time... those tricky whiplash exchanges between strings and organ occur effortlessly thanks to Weir's hair-trigger rhythmic precision.” David Hurwitz

“...it is a wonderful sense of true ensemble playing. Never the it-and-us effect which organ concerti so often radiate, but a real feeling of chamber-music-like ensemble, blend, balance and answering nuance. Toccata Festiva... there is no lack of fizz, particularly during the fiendish pedal solo cadenza. It is performed here by Dame Gillian and the ECO with the greatest of energy allied to wonderful control and an appreciation of its lyrical moment. A performance to savour.” Paul Hale

Track Listing

Available from Linn Records as CKD 178 (HDCD) and CKD 180 (SACD).

TrackMusicConductor
1 Francis Poulenc: Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor David Hill
2 Pierre Petit: Concertino for Organ, Strings and Percussion Allegro Raymond Leppard
3 Très Lent
4 Modéré
5 Samuel Barber: Toccata Festiva op. 36
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