MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet

 

John Scott Whiteley plays organ music from York Minster
The English Cathedral Series Vol. XV

Jéhan ALAIN (1911-1940)
Litanies [5:19]

Maurice GUILLAUME (1899-1983)
Berceuse marine
, Op. 24 [5:46]
Marcel DUPRÉ (1886-1971)
Cortège et Litanie, Op. 19ii [7:51]
Désiré PÂQUE (1867-1939)
Pièce pour orgue
, Op. 80 [3:30]

Émile BERNARD (1843-1902)
Scherzo Caprice, Op. 26ii [6:27]
Maurice RAVEL (1875-1937) arr. John Scott WHITELEY (b. 1950)
Petit Poucet (Tom Thumb) [4:15]
Joris VERDIN (b. 1952)
Organetto
[14:46]

Pierre COCHEREAU (1924-1984) arr. John Scott WHITELEY (b. 1950)
Symphonie en improvisation [26:06]
John Scott Whiteley (organ)
rec. York Minster, September 2007
REGENT REGCD275 [73:55]

 

Experience Classicsonline


To call these pieces ‘French Fancies’ is in no way to undermine them. The organist of York Minster gives us a most entertaining and enlightening tour of some 20th Century French masterpieces here. They are brilliantly played and recorded with beautifully atmospheric sound, making what is probably a first choice for the repertoire.
 

The booklet notes for this Regent release deserve a special mention at the outset. Most of the composers here are unfamiliar and Whiteley, who both plays the organ and writes the booklet notes, gives us admirably concise introductions to the composers with brief, helpful analysis of their works, making this recital far more accessible than it could otherwise have been. The notes also contain a biographical note about Whiteley himself, a history of the Minster organ and its full specification. 

The sheer variety on display here makes this disc a good one for anyone interested in the huge breadth of sound an organ is capable of producing. Alain’s Litanie has a busy feel to it, and one can imagine it accompanying the congregation as they leave after a service. It also makes good use of a variety of stops throughout, most notably the trumpet. The works by Guillaume and Dupré are much more gentle, until we are roused by the majestic effect of pealing bells at the end of the Cortège et Litanie. The Pâque piece has a strange, ethereal beauty to it, with compelling use of dissonance. Equally, the Scherzo Caprice, most appropriately named, revels in its dual nature; gentle yet sinister, playful yet restrained. The Ravel piece is a transcription from his Mother Goose Suite and its gentle, undulating phrases suit the organ transcription very well. 

The Organetto is a collection of very brief pieces which showcase the organ’s capabilities very well, especially in its fifth movement which, in Whiteley’s words, is “a possible demonstration of the invention of stops”, while the final Vivace ends with all guns blazing. The concluding Symphonie en improvisation is a transcription of Cochereau’s recorded improvisations. It is very successful at treading the line between the formality of the written note and the ephemeral world of the improviser. The opening is arresting and exciting, while the following allegro is strangely subdued. There follows a spidery scherzo and a meditative slow movement, while the tarantella finale feels like a scamper after the opening chord has fired the starting pistol. 

The playing is remarkably fine throughout, with Whiteley providing a fine example of the organist’s art. Furthermore, the Regent engineers have done a great job at capturing the tricky Minster’s acoustic. They provide warm, immediate sound, while the echoes at the end of each piece fade away gently and unhurriedly. Well done to all involved.

Simon Thompson





 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.