Celebrating the centennial of the Wanamaker organ at Macy's Center City, Philadelphia, grand court organist Peter Richard Conte, conductor Rossen Milanov, and the orchestra Symphony in C present a program of vibrant and lush post-Romantic music by Alexandre Guilmant, Joseph Jongen, and Charles-Marie Widor. These works show off the extraordinary range of stops and textures available on this historic instrument, which was originally built for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, then purchased in 1909 by John Wanamaker for his ...
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Celebrating the centennial of the Wanamaker organ at Macy's Center City, Philadelphia, grand court organist Peter Richard Conte, conductor Rossen Milanov, and the orchestra Symphony in C present a program of vibrant and lush post-Romantic music by Alexandre Guilmant, Joseph Jongen, and Charles-Marie Widor. These works show off the extraordinary range of stops and textures available on this historic instrument, which was originally built for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, then purchased in 1909 by John Wanamaker for his famed department store, and inaugurated in 1911. These performances were recorded in 2011, and Conte's virtuosity and 25-year knowledge of this organ gives them the theatricality and grandeur appropriate for its vintage. Even though this live recording seems alarmingly soft at the beginning, the sound becomes quite full and warm once the Guilmant symphony is underway, and the wide dynamic range of the recording accommodates the orchestra at its softest and the organ at its highest...
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