MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

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


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

REVIEW
RECORDING OF THE MONTH


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos 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

 

 

alternatively
MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

The Grand Organ of Canterbury Cathedral
Modest MUSSORGSKY
Promenade from “Pictures at an Exhibition” (transcribed by Keith John) [1:57]
Johann Sebastian BACH
Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor BWV 582 [13:27]
Alfred HOLLINS
A Song of Sunshine [4:26]
Healey WILLAN
Chaconne [3:49]
Claude DEBUSSY
Footprints in the Snow (transcribed by John Robinson) [4:30]
Josef RHEINBERGER
Passacaglia (from Sonata No. 8) [9:20]
Alan RIDOUT
Path in the Wood [4:10]
Orlando GIBBONS
Ground in A minor [3:03]
Benjamin BRITTEN
Prelude to They Walk Alone [2:55]
Johann PACHELBEL
Canon in D (transcribed by John Robinson) [4:59]
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH
Passacaglia from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk [6:06]
Théodore DUBOIS
Marche des Rois Mages [4:20]
Hubert PARRY
Toccata and Fugue “The Wanderer” [13:19]
John Robinson (organ)
rec. Canterbury Cathedral, April-May 2010
DVD in 5.1 and Stereo (with bonus CD)
Also available in NTSC format (PRDVD6N)
PRIORY PRDVD6 [78:06]

Experience Classicsonline


This DVD is a real treat, living up to Priory’s exceptionally high standards and pretty much exemplifying what a music DVD should be. John Robinson has organised a programme of organ music for Canterbury based around the idea of travelling: after all, Canterbury was the spot in which Christianity is said to have arrived in England and for centuries pilgrims travelled there to visit the shrine of Thomas Becket. He chooses organ pieces that revolve around the device of structured movement, most notably the passacaglia, chaconne and ground bass. It’s highly effective as a concept and they’re all very well played, from the raw, hoary grandeur of Shostakovich’s Passacaglia, used in Lady Macbeth, to the gentler, more familiar tones of Pachelbel’s Canon, here working very well in Robinson’s own transcription. Other pieces like Mussorgsky’s Promenade and Debussy’s Footprints follow up the theme in a less formal manner.
 
Each piece is played with consummate skill and a complete lack of showiness, and it’s even more impressive that Robinson plays from memory. What really sets this DVD out as special, however, is the overall approach to the production. This isn’t just a concert that was taped: from start to finish it has been sensitively constructed as a complete experience for home viewing. The accompanying visuals are expertly chosen and act as a guided tour of the Cathedral that complements the music very well indeed. During Bach’s great Passacaglia and Fugue, for example, the camera homes in on the architectural detail of the vaulting and tower to emphasise architecture of Bach’s work; every section of the cathedral gets similar treatment as the DVD progresses. The disc isn’t limited just to this, either: at different moments we get lovely shots of the Kent countryside and surrounding area; the tourist board would be proud. During Ridout’s Path in the Wood, for example, we are taken through the local woodland, while Hollins’ Song of Sunshine - a delightful piece, incidentally - is accompanied by shots of Kent bathed in summer brightness; apparently Kent is the English county that gets the most hours of sunshine per annum. Every track has a special pictorial partnership that works very well and is never hackneyed: it goes without saying that the shots of the organ itself are subtle and well chosen, always leading the eye where the ear says it should be.
 
The quality of sound on the DVD is exemplary, each of the six speakers being used expertly to create a perfect sense of space, and the two documentaries are also excellent: Robinson talks intelligently about the choices he made in putting together the programme (9 minutes) and we are given a well managed tour of the organ itself in another extra (20 minutes). The quality of sound on the accompanying CD is bright and crystal clear, but the excellence of approach on the DVD makes this an immeasurably richer experience than the CD. This will give tremendous pleasure to any discerning music-lover, and it’s one that should be watched by music producers to show them how a music DVD should be done.
 
Simon Thompson
 

 

 

 

 


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






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.


 

> 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.