Many organists in the USA remember Barnes (1887-1958) for his method, The School of Organ Playing (1921) but relatively few know the significance of his contribution to organ literature. Thus this CD offers the first recording of his two organ symphonies and one more work. Barnes, a native of Seabright, New Jersey, studied at Yale with Horatio Parker and Harry Jepson (to whom the First Symphony is dedicated), then in Paris with Vincent d'Indy, Abel Marie Decaux, and Louis Vierne. Simon Nieminski plays the tonally unaltered 1937 Wicks at St. Mary's Cathedral, Peoria, Illinois. The organ is almost entirely "straight" (without unification and with very little duplexing) and comprises 59 ranks on three manuals, designed and voiced by Henry Vincent Willis. Symphonie pour orgue, Opus 18 Prélude · Allegro · Scherzo · Andante · Toccata sur un thème grégorienne Second Symphony for Organ, Opus 37 Allegro · Cantilène · Intermezzo · Rhapsodie · Final Solemn Prelude, Opus 24 |