20th Century Organ Masterworks

Quinn, Iain

The programme for this release focuses on key works in the late twentieth-century organ repertoire and is performed on one of the most significant large instruments of the latter part of the century built by Paul Fritts & Company. The repertoire of Russian organ music is understandably smaller than many other countries because the instrument is not included in Orthodox liturgies. However, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev attended the organ classes at the St. Petersburg conservatory and there are many concert halls with organs. The Passacaglia heard on this release by Shostakovich was written to be performed at the end of the fourth scene of the second act of the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. When considering the many sonatas of Paul Hindemith, it is with considerable joy that three very different works should have been written for the organ. The sonata included on this release was written in 1940 while the composer was teaching at the University of Buffalo. The organ works of Arvo Part heard on this recording draw on his well-known technique of tintinnabulation, whereby a triad is heard in different inversions against a generally conjunct line that in turn creates consonant and dissonant intervals. Finally, Anton Heiller’s Tanz-Toccata has remained the most frequently performed of his many organ works, for understandable reasons. It is a piece that is not easily mirrored in the repertoire. Dr. Iain Quinn is Assistant Professor of Organ at Florida State University.

Price: $17.98