Details

Respighi - Poulenc - Rheinberger
Peter King Bath Abbey Organ
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Conducted by François-Xavier Roth

This recording, released to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the new Klais organ in Bath Abbey, features three very contrasting works for solo organ and orchestra: Respighi’s opulent and luxurious homage to the eighteenth century and the Baroque suite, Poulenc’s dramatic, expressive and wild patchwork quilt and Rheinberger’s gloriously melodic and virtuoso nineteenth-century grand concerto with its echoes of Schumann.

"This disc presents three of the finest organ/orchestra collaborations in the repertoire.....The performances of all three works are outstanding; it would be difficult to imagine any better. Bathed in the fine acoustic of Bath Abbey, the strings and horns produce a lush, luminous, vibrant, clear, robust sound that is matched by the clarity, color, cohesion and brilliance of the superb Klais organ. The well-balanced and blended sonorities are skillfully reproduced by the recording techinicians. This recording is to be cherished for the beauuty of the sound, the music and the exceptional performances by some of Great Britains' finest musicicians."