The CDs below feature repertoire which has been transcribed or arranged for organ. The original works were composed for other instruments or combinations of instruments, including full symphony orchestra. Most of the original works and their transcriptions date from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. |
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| NEW! Digital dexterity & fun, too! Australian phenom Thomas Heywood transcribes most of the selections from operas by Verdi, Wagner, Rossini, Mozart, and more on this CD, and he plays the huge Schantz completed in 1998 at Moody Memorial First United Methodist Church in Galveston, Texas, with 117 ranks and several 32' stops including the facade. Click the headline for titles and to order. | |
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| NEW! It sounds like ten million dollars! At the end of the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the huge organ that the Hook firm had built for it was moved to St. Joseph�s Cathedral in Buffalo, New York, where it was restored and enlarged by the Andover Organ Company July 1999 to January 2001. This first CD on the renewed organ is played by Australia�s phenomenal Thomas Heywood in a program of mostly transcriptions and "municipal auditorium" music by Hollins, Guilmant, Brahms, Mozart, Bach, Best, etc. Click the headline for titles and to order. | |
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| Erwin Horn follows Liszt�s precedent in making transcriptions of Wagner�s operas, taking important and memorable passages to create opulent sound pictures. In playing them, this becomes the largest collection of Wagnerian music transcribed and played by one artist. (Scores of Horn�s Bruckner transcriptions are available from OHS). The 1996 Klais 3-54 at the Augustinian Church in W�rzburg, along with a 2-14 choir organ, provide an ideal situtation for symphonic repertoire, voluptuously recorded! Click for operas transcribed and to order. | |
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|  NEW! Bruno Morin plays the famous Clicquot organ in the Cathedral at Poitiers to present this music of pageantry. Boyvin Suites on the 2nd, 3rd, and 7th tones; the Lully pieces are transcribed for organ: Cacone de Galat�e and Passacaille d'Armide. | |
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| NEW! John Scott Whiteley, organist at the minster since 1976, explores the grand orchestral sounds of the beloved organ with transcriptions of Wagner, Debussy, Bach, Chopin, Rossini, and Rachmaninoff. At its core, the organ is an 1863 William Hill and 1904 J. W. Walker, rebuilt in 1930 by Harrison and Harrison with reconstitution of Great Mixtures and new stops, especially in the Pedal, completed in 1994 by Geoffrey Coffin. Click on the headline for more information and to order. | |
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| NEW! The 142-rank, 5-manual, 103-register organ completed in 1989 at the Basilica of Waldsassen, Germany, complements the rich harmonies of these famous Wagner transcriptions by Edwin Lemare, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Franz Liszt, and even the organist here, Harold Feller. Click picture for list of works transcribed. | |
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| David Briggs at Gloucester Cathedral"> NEW! On the newly rebuilt and famous organ at Gloucester Cathedral, David Briggs, cathedral organist, presents a remarkably compelling program of well-turned transcriptions, some by Briggs himself. Great sound! Click ikon for repertoire | |
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| NEW! Nicolas Kynaston plays interesting transcriptions of Mendelssohn piano works and a Rinck flute concerto, and �real� organ works by Saint-Sa�ns and Guilmant on the newly rebuilt Klais organ at Abbey Himmerod. Click picture for repertoire | |
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| NEW! Hear transcriptions on the 1863 Walcker now enlarged to 4-112 at the Market Church in Wiesbaden, Germany. Joplin rags to a Sabre Dance. Click picture for repertoire | |
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| On the very large Schoenstein organ at First-Plymouth Congregational, Lincoln, Nebraska, Frederick Hohman plays symphonic masterpieces transcribed for the organ by Hohman, Lemare, and others. Three major works of Tchaikovsky are featured: The Nutcracker Suite; Finale from Symphonie Path�tique; and Overture to Rom�o et Juliette. Also the Hebrides Overture of Mendelssohn, March of the Toys by Victor Herbert, and Air on the G String by Bach. Click on ikon for further description and to order | |
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| Peter Sykes transcribes this 20th-century orchestral masterpiece for, and plays it on, the 1933 Skinner organ of 100+ ranks at Girard College, Philadelphia. Writes David Bond in the The American Record Guide, "Sykes has made the impossible possible. This transcription is by far the most satisfying and persuasive I have ever heard." | |
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| LISZT: Sonata in B-minor for piano, transcribed to organ BRAHMS: Variations and Fugue on a theme of Handel, Op. 24, transcribed for organ | |
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| Joachim Walter plays transcriptions written by Hermann Jimmerthal (1809-1866), organist at the giant 1854 Schulze organ in St. Mary�s, L�beck, that demonstrate fascinating and unexpected, kaleidoscopic, registration practices. Works he transcribed include Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Mozart's Jupiter Symphony, etc. Since the organ at St. Mary's was destroyed during World War II, this CD is recorded on the 1871 Ladegast 4m at the Cathedral in Schwerin, one of the world�s largest at the time it was built and similar in its stoplist. | |
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| On 141 Ranks! Virtuoso Roberto Bertero plays mostly transcriptions at St. Eustache, Paris, where the Dutch firm of Van den Heuvel installed a new organ of 141 ranks in 1989. Click ikon for repertoire | |
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| Kalevi Kiviniemi"> Finish organist Kalevi Kiviniemi is famous for his virtuoso technique and his amazing command of the organ. Here he arranges and transcribes music composed for orchestra, voice, and other instruments, and plays it on a 4m German organ built in 1986 to play romantic and orchestral repertoire. | |
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| National City Christian Church WAGNER: Overture to Die Meistersinger BACH: Liebster Jesu; Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g�mein; Passacaglia in C-minor KARG-ELERT: Pastels from Lake Constance LISZT: Am Grabe Richard Wagners; Fantasy on BACH; Consolations in E and D-flat The 141-rank M�ller of 1985 at National City Christian Church in Washington, DC, is handsomely played by Gregory D�Agostino. | |
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| Symphony No. 4 ("Romantic") by Anton Bruckner is transcribed and played by Thomas Schm�gner on the 4m Cavaill�-Coll at La Madeleine in Paris, a sonic tour-de-force. | |
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| David Briggs realizes a long personal ambition in transcribing Mahler�s mammoth Fifth Symphony to organ and plays it at Gloucester Cathedral in England, where he is organist and choirmaster. | |
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| Commissioned from Japan, Lionel Rogg transcribes the mammoth Eighth Symphony of Anton Bruckner into a manageable, non-literal, and often deeply moving entity for organ. It is played on the 1993 Van den Heuvel 4/69 in Victoria Hall, Geneva. | |
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| Thomas Heywood at Melbourne Town Hall, Rebuilt"> Newly rebuilt and enlarged by the Schantz Organ Co., the 1929 Hill, Norman & Beard 4-101 Grand Concert Organ in the Melbourne Town Hall (Victoria, Australia) this first CD of the renovated organ features Australia's entertaining organ virtuoso, Thomas Heywood, playing transcriptons of great orchestral works, including the entire Fifth Symphony by Beethoven! | |
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| Great works by Beethoven, Ravel, Debussy, Mozart, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss | |
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| Stravinsky�s great ballet scores for orchestra are transcribed by Pierre Pincemaille and recorded on the 1991 rebuild by Dargassies of the 107-rank organ at Radio-France in Paris. | |
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| MENDELSSOHN: Ruy Blas Overture; Scherzo A Midsummer Night�s Dream DVORAK: Carnival Overture SULLIVAN: Pirates of Penzance & Iolanthe Overtures DEBUSSY: Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun THOMAS: Entr�acte Gavotte from Mignon WAGNER: Pilgrim�s Chorus from Tannh�user Peter Conte, organist at Wanamaker�s in Philadelphia, plays on the Longwood Gardens Aeolian organ. | |
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| Tara theme TCHAIKOVSKY: Romeo & Juliet ROSE: Holiday for Strings JOPLIN: Cascades WEBER: Memory SONDHEIM: Send in the Clowns HERBERT: Jeanette & Her Wooden Shoes; New York, New York DELIBES: Pizzicati from Sylvia GRIEG: March of the Dwarfs RODGERS: Climb Ev�ry Mountain MOZART: Turkish Rondo KARG-ELERT: Praise the Lord with Drums & Cymbals; the Dream of Olwen Longwood Pops OHS member Michael Stairs plays the 1930 Aeolian of 10,100 pipes, 145 ranks, and five 32� stops at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania. | |
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| Ken Cowan, selected as a favorite recitalists at OHS Conventions in Montreal and Philadelphia, plays the famous 1926 Austin 4-187 at the University of Pennsylvania, using the organ to its full potential. | |
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| JAMES ROGERS: Concert Overture JAMES POLLARD: Chanson Romantique RALPH KINDER: In Springtime FELIX BOROWSKI: Sonata I SAINT-SAENS: Le Cygne WAGNER: Love Death from Tristan & Isolde FAULKES: Concert Overture; more James Hammann plays the 1918 J.W. Steere 4m at The Baptist Temple in Brooklyn, New York, lovingly restored by OHS member Keith Bigger. | |
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| Ron McKean demonstrates the sonic splendors of the 86-stop Rosales Opus 16 in First Presbyterian Church, Oakland, California. Works by Liszt, Mussorgsky, and McKean. | |
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| FRANCK: Interlude Symphonique Redemption RACHMANINOV: Prelude in C-sharp Minor, Isle of the Dead LISZT: St. Francis Walks on the Water; Fourth Consolation; Evocation of the Sistine Chapel Virtuosic Transcriptions by organist Louis Robilliard explore the gorgeous solo stops and power of the Cavaill�-Coll at St. Francis de Sales in Lyon. | |
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| Voluntaries and Interludes WHITLOCK: Fanfare, March for the �Phoebe� ELGAR: Salut d�Amour MOZART: Larghetto & Adagio from Clarinet Quintet BACH: Sinfonia, Cantata No. 29 HOLLINS: Trumpet Minuet WM. HARRIS: A Fancy FIOCCO: Andante DVORAK: Largo from New World Symphony HANDEL: Arrival of Queen of Sheba LANG: Tuba Tune FAUR�: Pavane SCHUBERT: Marche Militaire Huddersfield Town Hall in England. At its heart a Willis from the 1860s, this venerable municipal organ (4m-79r) was rebuilt by Harrision & Harrison in 1981. Gordon Stewart turns in an entertaining and well-recorded program. | |
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| Christa Rakich"> At the Seattle AGO National Convention in July, 2000, Rakich played magnificently at St. Mark's Cathedral. Here, she explores transcription repertoire on the 1933 Kilgen 3-39 designed by Courboin for an art-deco church in Hartford, Connecticut, where she served before just recently being appointed music director of Immaculate Conception Church in Boston, ground zero for historic American organs and music (1863 E. & G. G. Hook 4m). | |
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| PROKOFIEV: Suite from Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64 KEITH JOHN: Suite Time & Motion VALERI KITKA: Orpheus Suite TCHAIKOVSKY: The Nutcracker Suite Virtuoso Keith John transcribed Romeo & Juliet and Nutcracker as brilliant organ suites and equally brilliantly plays then and the other works on the impressive 1992 Klais at Iceland's Hallgrimur Church in Reykjavik. | |
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| from Truro Cathedral with David Briggs playing the 1888 Willis 4m in works of Prokofiev, Susato, Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar, Bach | |
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| SMETANA: The Moldau SAINT-SA�NS: Danse macabre DUCAS: The Sorcerer�s Apprentice MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition Polish organist Andrzej Chorosinski plays the new 65-stop Siegfried Sauer organ in the recently restored Stadthalle in Wuppertal, Germany, in a delightful program of old-fashioned transcriptions of well-known orchestral pieces. The new organ replaces a 1900 Wilhelm Sauer and its 1955 extensive rebuild by Rieger. | |
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| Kalevi Kiviniemi plays a colorful program befitting the tonal palette of this major instrument (4-110), recently enjoying restorative repairs by the Bradford Organ Co., reversing earlier changes. SIBELIUS: Finlandia BONNET: 2nd Legende, Caprice Heroique DUPR�: Magnificat, Antiphon, Crucifixion PIERNE: Prelude WIDOR: Andante Sostenuto SAINT-SA�NS: Prelude op. 99 AULIS SALLINEN: Chaconne KIVINIEMI: Improvisation KOKKONEN: Lux aeterna KANKANEN: The Moonlight | |
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| Thomas Murray is fabulous on the 1928 E. M. Skinner at Yale University. SIBELIUS: Finlandia; LISZT: Les Preludes & ���gologue�� DELIUS: ��On hearing the first cuckoo in spring�� RACHMANINOFF: Prelude in G minor; HANDEL: Samson Overt. RAVEL: ��Petit Poucet,�� Ma M�re l�Oye; ELGAR: Nimrod KREISLER: The Old Refrain and Liebesfreud | |
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| New! Jean-Paul Imbert plays the organ built in 1845 by Joseph Callinet at St. Bonaventure, Lyon, France, and later expanded to 81 ranks by Merklin and others. Imbert plays three of Liszt�s works for organ, Imbert�s own transcription of Liszt�s Les Preludes, and Liszt�s transcriptions of works by Chopin, Nicolai, Verdi and Bach. LISZT: Consolation; Poeme symphonique Orpheus; Pr�lude & Fugue sur B-A-C-H BACH; Poeme symphonique Les Pr�ludes (trans. Imbert) NICOLAI: Ouverture Ein feste Burg VERDI: Agnus Dei BACH: Choral Ich hatte viel Bek�mmernis CHOPIN: Pr�ludes, op. 28, nos. 4 & 9 | |
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| NEW! Johannes Geffert plays works of Bach for instruments or voice and which have been transcribed for organ. The organ was built in 1927 by Josef Behmann of Vorarlburg for St. Martin�s in Dornbirn, Austria, and restored with no changes in 1986 by the Swiss firm Kuhn. Wolfgang Rehn of the Kuhn firm wrote about this famous restoration in Acta Organologica XXII, �The insight that each style of music is best . . . played on the original instruments of the period should certainly not be limited to ancient music . . .� The transcriptions are by Guilmant, Widor, Landmann, Karg-Elert, E. Power Biggs, and W. T. Best Click picture for repertoire | |
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| Liszt�s transcriptions of Pilgrim�s Chorus from Tannh�user, Chopin preludes, and Liszt's own Orpheus as well as three of Liszt�s works for organ are played on a newly-restored 1910 Klais by Philippe Delacour, also well admired for his organ video. �Stunning results . . . a magical experience . . .� writes Peter Palmer in Organists� Review of February 1999. | |
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| Virtuoso organist Stephen Tharp records at St. Mary the Virgin, Manhattan, on the 1932/42 Aeolian-Skinner 4-86, rejuvenated by Mann & Trupiano in 1995. LISZT: Totentanz - Danse macabre on Dies Irae (arr. Tharp) DAVID HURD: Arioso & Finale ANTON VAN DER HORST: �tude de concert MCNEIL ROBINSON: Sonata for Organ SERGE PROKOFIEV: Toccata (arr. Guillou) IGOR STRAVINSKY: Three Dances from Petrouchka (arr. Tharp) | |
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