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Track(s) taken from CDA67734

Prelude and Toccata

composer
2002

Christopher Herrick (organ)
Recording details: June 2008
Västerås Cathedral, Sweden
Produced by Paul Spicer
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: May 2009
Total duration: 9 minutes 4 seconds

Cover artwork: Fireworks over Stockholm.
© Mikael Damkier, www.dreamstime.com
 

Reviews

‘Herrick's playing and imaginative use of the organ's resources are first rate, and he's backed up by a superb recording from Hyperion’ (Gramophone)

‘This instrument makes a pretty spectacular noise … with plenty of incendiary reeds and pyrotechnic instruments, it provides yet another ideal organ on which Christopher Herrick can light his blue touch paper and not retire but leap onto the pyre and set off as many fireworks as he can in the space of 78 minutes … he is a fluent and fiery champion of the repertoire … Herrick manages to persuade us that it is all worth hearing. He delivers it with enthusiasm and the communicative zeal which is the hallmark of just about everything this outstanding organist ever seems to put his hands and feet to … for lovers of fine organ sound and often spine-tingly virtuoso playing … this disc most certainly is not thirteenth time unlucky’ (International Record Review)
Derek Bourgeois (b1941) was born in Kingston upon Thames and educated at Cambridge University and at the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with Herbert Howells. The composer of forty-two symphonies, he is among the most prolific of present-day British composers, and his Prelude and Toccata, which dates from 2002, is one of a number of his works for the organ. The first movement is majestic and dark-hued, and even its major-mode second section is strongly coloured by chromatic harmony. The second movement is an energetic rondo based on a perky transformation of the melody heard at the beginning of the Prelude. A reminiscence of that movement’s major-mode material precedes the exuberant coda.

from notes by Relf Clark © 2009

Né en 1941 à Kingston upon Thames, Derek Bourgeois fut formé à l’Université de Cambridge et au Royal College of Music, où il étudia la composition avec Herbert Howells. Auteur de quarante-deux symphonies, il est actuellement l’un des compositeurs britanniques les plus prolifiques. Le premier mouvement de son Prelude and Toccata (2002; l’une de ses nombreuses pièces pour orgue) est majestueux et sombre—même sa seconde section en majeur est fortement colorée par une harmonie chromatique. Le second mouvement est un énergique rondo bâti sur une allègre métamorphose de la mélodie entendue au début du Prélude. Une réminiscence du matériel en majeur de ce mouvement précède l’exubérante coda.

extrait des notes rédigées par Relf Clark © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Derek Bourgeois (1941 geb.) wurde in Kingston upon Thames geboren und erhielt seine Ausbildung an der Universität Cambridge und dem Royal College of Music, wo er bei Herbert Howells Komposition studierte. Als Komponist von 42 Symphonien gehört er zu den fruchtbarsten der derzeitigen britischen Komponisten und sein Prelude and Toccata von 2002 ist eines einer Anzahl von Orgelwerken. Der erste Satz ist majestätisch und dunkel und selbst sein zweiter Abschnitt in Dur ist stark chromatisch gefärbt. Der zweite Satz ist ein energisches Rondo, das auf einer munteren Transformation der Melodie beruht, die am Anfang des Preludes zu hören ist. Der überschwänglichen Coda geht eine Erinnerung an das Durmaterial dieses Satzes voraus.

aus dem Begleittext von Relf Clark © 2009
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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