Naji Hakim Plays the Stahlhuth Organ at St. Martin Church in Dudelange in Luxembourg, restored in 2002 by Thomas Jann, entirely reversing the “neobaroquefication” that had occurred, badly, in the 1960s. Georg Stahlhuth (1830-1913), son of a German organbuilder, apprenticed with Joseph Merklin in Belgium and founded his own organbuilding shop in Hildesheim, moving to Aachen in 1864. He synthesized an organbuilding style that embraced both the German Romantic and French Romantic, with some characteristics of English organs, thus he was an ideal choice to build the organ of 1912 at Dudelange following the International Guidelines for Organbuilding adopted in Vienna in 1909 following Albert Schweitzer’s conceptions. In splendid acoustics, Hakim’s playing is wonderful, of course, and the organ sounds fabulous. The CD booklet greatly informs us about this organ and its builder, and the exceptional characteristics recaptured in the restoration. LISZT: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen KARG-ELERT: Symphonic Chorale Ach bleib mit Deiner Gnade op. 87/1 LANGLAIS: Trois Poèmes évangéliques: L’Annonciation, La Nativité, Les Rameaux FRANCK: Prière HAKIM: In Organo, Chordis et Choro (2001) HAKIM: Improvisation |