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Track(s) taken from CDA66258

Fantaisie sur deux mélodies anglaises, Op 43

composer
tunes 'Home, Sweet Home'; 'Rule, Britannia'

Christopher Herrick (organ)
Recording details: May 1987
Royal Albert Hall, United Kingdom
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: September 1988
Total duration: 8 minutes 52 seconds
 

Reviews

‘The most stunning recording of this organ ever made. Buy it!’ (Organists' Review)

‘What a joy for organ fanciers’ (Which CD)
If the English were for Napoleon a nation of shopkeepers, then for his compatriot Alexandre Guilmant they were evidently a people of 'Home, Sweet Home' and 'Rule Britannia'.

These are the two pieces on which this Fantaisie is based. After an introduction, 'Home, Sweet Home' emerges quietly before receiving a varied accompaniment from the flutes, answered, and with great dexterity, in some astonishing writing for the pedals. Then 'Rule Britannia' announces itself in fugal imitation to conclude the piece triumphantly.

This is music designed for self-display by its composer, who was also an international concert organist. The overt showmanship of the Fantaisie makes it difficult to believe that Guilmant was also a respected musicologist and the man who rescued much ancient French music from oblivion.

from notes by Ian Carson © 1988

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