When E. Power Biggs took organ music to the top of the charts -- pop, sometimes, as well as classical -- in the 1950s and 1960s, it was often by exploring the sounds of a single organ. Australian organist Joseph Nolan takes the same approach with this lovely exploration of the organ of the Church of St. Bavo (the Grote Kerk) in Haarlem, the largest organ in the world when it was built in the mid-18th century and still an imposing structure that dominates its space to an unusual degree. Handel, Mozart, and Mendelssohn played ...
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When E. Power Biggs took organ music to the top of the charts -- pop, sometimes, as well as classical -- in the 1950s and 1960s, it was often by exploring the sounds of a single organ. Australian organist Joseph Nolan takes the same approach with this lovely exploration of the organ of the Church of St. Bavo (the Grote Kerk) in Haarlem, the largest organ in the world when it was built in the mid-18th century and still an imposing structure that dominates its space to an unusual degree. Handel, Mozart, and Mendelssohn played it. It is said to make you feel as though you are inside the instrument, and that's the effect sought by Signum's engineers, who do a wonderful job that will be revealed in full only to those with the equipment to make it happen. The program takes the form of a complete survey of the instrument's capabilities (an arrangement of the Bach Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 for solo violin, BWV 1004, by French organist Henri Messerer), shorter works that explore its various sonorities,...
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