The Usher Hall Organ - works by Bach, Handel, Liszt, Walton
John Kitchen
Delphian DCD34022

Release date April 2004

This is the first recording of the newly-restored organ in Edinburgh's Usher Hall - and what a wonderful demonstration it is of this monumental instrument's capabilities. Originally built in 1914 by Norman & Beard, the organ became increasingly unreliable during the 1970s due to poor temperature and humidity control, and eventually lapsed into disuse. Happily, its comprehensive restoration has brought it back to full working order, its pipework entirely unaltered from the original. It now sounds much as it must have done in 1914: richly opulent, with a huge range of exotic colours. The restored organ has already proved itself a fine orchestral instrument on various occasions, including performances of the Saint-Saëns Symphony no. 3 and Richard Strauss's Festal Prelude. Solo performances have also been well-received, although sometimes with a slight disappointment that the organ did not sound more thrilling. This is not a problem on Delphian's new disc - the microphones, placed in the Dress Circle, convey as thrilling a sound as one could wish for. John Kitchen has chosen an interesting and varied selection of music for the disc, centred round two major works, Bach's great Prelude and Fugue in E flat BWV552 (popularly known as the St Anne) and Liszt's Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen variations. Kitchen's performance of the Bach is truly impressive: the Prelude is full of vigour and life while never losing its grandeur, and the Fugue dances along in its latter sections. The different voices are generally very clear and balanced except for a slight lack of weight in the bass near the start of the Fugue. The Bach and the Liszt were each recorded in one take - no mean feat, which has undoubtedly contributed to the feeling of cumulative musical impetus in these performances. A variety of shorter pieces makes up the rest of the disc. Alfred Hollins' swaggering Triumphal March (listen out for the tuba and the carillon here) contrasts with two Elgar transcriptions (Nimrod and the Larghetto from the Serenade for Strings, the latter providing a suitable vehicle for some of the organ's remarkable string sounds). Five well-chosen Handel transcriptions comprise three marches (from Deidamia, Rinaldo and Scipio) given increasingly grand and sumptuous performances, interspersed with a delightful Minuet from Alcina and the well-known aria Lascia ch'io pianga from Rinaldo. Throw in Geoffrey Atkinson's A Little Liturgical Suite, based on Scottish folk melodies (with a particularly jaunty Postlude: the Trumpeter of Fyvie) and Walton's Popular Song from Façade and Coronation March: Orb and Sceptre), and the listener ends up with an excellent idea of the organ's capabilities. On two or three occasions, when the organ sound is at its fullest, the recorded sound becomes oppressive; otherwise, it is very good. John Kitchen can be justifiably proud of this disc.

Anne McAlister