"350 Years of Organ Masterworks"
We are privileged to have received a review of this CD by one of the country's leading concert organists, and former Director of Music at Chester Cathedral, Roger Fisher.
Below are some excerpts from Mr Fisher's review:
AMEMPTOS MUSIC is a name which is new to me and this issue [...] breaks new ground in an interesting and considerate way. In addition to an excellent recording of Simon Bell playing two fine instruments, we have a second CD containing an interview with Paul Hale [Southwell's Director of Music - ed.] about the instruments and the music.
The idea behind it is that there are many who would gain pleasure from the music, but who are visually impaired, or even blind and unable to read the titles on the back of the jewel case, or to gain information from the insert booklet. This additional CD will be issued free, on request, to anyone buying the music CD who has problems with sight. Others who would like to have it are asked to donate £1 to help cover costs - as the interview is interesting in its own right, this seems a bargain.
The recording of both organs is excellent and, in the case of the Nave Organ, introduces a new microphone technique to great effect. Southwell Minster is a very narrow building, and the Nave Organ is placed in the South Triforium. At the eastern end of this site, is the Swell, then the Great and at the westernmost end, the Tubas. This introduces a fundamental difficulty, as the organ is thus very wide indeed for a facing microphone, and, even if a stereo microphone is placed in the North Triforium, it is bound to be very close to the organ on the opposite side. To overcome this, the producer, Jon Bell, has worked on the inspired idea that more atmosphere would be created if the microphones could be placed to pick up reflected sound. This is an extension of the technique favoured by many engineers when recording the organ in Chester Cathedral, where the best microphone placement always seems to be when microphones are placed some way down the Nave. [...] In this instance Jon has placed his microphones in the South Transept, picking up reflected sound only [and] the idea is a triumphant success – the sound has clarity, balance and warmth.
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On this evidence, SIMON BELL is a very promising player indeed and his recording starts quite undemonstratively on the Quire Organ, with Sweelinck’s Onder een linde groen – stylish, it has virtuosic brilliance and clarity. Buxtehude’s Prelude & Fugue in F sharp minor is surely one of his greatest works and here receives a lively and coherent performance – notable for an absence of the affectations which can mar so many performances of baroque music these days!
Similarly, Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in C minor is convincingly free of silly mannerisms, although the ending of the fugue, seems a little brusque. In BWV nos 537, 543, 547 & 564 Bach sets the player considerable problems by writing a very short final chord. In very resonant buildings this is highly effective, as the listener can appreciate the abrupt ending of direct sound and listen to a glorious echo. In less resonant buildings, it seems appropriate for the player to cushion the sudden ending by allowing the tempo to relax slightly, and even to round the final chord off by making a graded release of the treble notes first and allowing the bass to linger by a tiny fraction of a second. This technique is hinted at by Bach in BWV 541, where some chords are held for a quaver by the hands and a crotchet by the feet. My own teacher, Harold Darke was so skilful at this sort of thing that nobody noticed the technique he was using!
A highlight of this disc for me is Two Fantasias by Krebs (one for organ and trumpet and one for organ and oboe). The combination of instruments here is magical and the music portrays this composer at his very best – the effect is most moving!
In his interview, Paul Hale suggests that Best's arrangement of Mendelssohn's St. Paul overture is as good as Mendelssohn's original orchestral version, if not better! On the evidence of Simon Bell's brilliant performance, this is a view that I can readily support, while Franck's Fantaisie in A receives and idiomatic and fiery performance in which music, performer and the Nicholson organ seem totally at one.
Whitlock’s Fanfare, and Howells’ Master Tallis’s Testament sound very convincing indeed on the very English Binns Nave Organ and Amemptos's recording technique pays off splendidly. [...]
For a brilliant finale, we are back with the Nicholson organ in the Quire and here Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster is given a performance which is a triumph of tonal richness, rhythmic vitality and keyboard virtuosity.
[...] on the evidence of this most enjoyable recording, both [Amemptos Music and Simon Bell] deserve to flourish exceedingly.
Roger Fisher: 27-10-07
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