DCD34044-CD

Alfred Hollins: Organ Works

Designed by the blind organist Alfred Hollins, the Caird Hall instrument is one of the finest recital organs in the UK – as ideal a vehicle for Hollins’ own music as Byram-Wigfield is an exponent of it. Hollins effortlessly combines keyboard pyrotechnics with a quasi-orchestral approach to sonority. These works bristle with vigour, their swaggering confidence complemented by their ingenuity and wit.

"It gleams, gives voice to some scrumptiously succulent sounds and inspires Timothy Byram-Wigfield to turn out performances of this wide cross-section of Hollins’s output which are utterly captivating and wholly engage with Hollins’s special blend of virtuosity, unashamed sentimentality and quasi-orchestral colour"

"It is impossible to praise the choice of instrument or the performances on thisCD too highly…It is made more valuable by being sonically one of the best recordings of an organ I have heard for some time."

"Finally at nearly eighty minutes worth of music this is excellent value for money – add in the fine playing, the great repertoire and the fantastic sound – this makes it a superb addition to all organ fans’ (and others’) CD libraries."

"We put this CD onto the player with little expectation - turn of the century British organ music is not one of our regular interests - but we were immediately captivated, and pleasure continued."

MUSICAL POINTERS

"I am sure that Hollins would have been thrilled at the performances of his music by Timothy Byram-Wigfield. In terms of musical understanding Byram-Wigfield is superb; his registration, tempi and sense of harmonic and contrapuntal movement are admirable in what is, after all - despite being written by the same composer - a wide range of music."

THE ORGAN

"Delphian’s new release is a fitting memorial to a blind yet visionary hero"

"Timothy Byram-Wigfield blends the rich palette of the Caird Hall’s delicate flutes, fine strings and orchestral reeds with consummate skill. His solo melodic lines are impeccably phrased and crescendo and diminuendi are silky-smooth. Even in the sugariest of Hollins’s tunes he always remains a well-judged distance just short of schmaltz."

SCOTTISH FEDERATION OF ORGANISTS

"All these entertaining pieces are lovingly and impeccably presented. Moreover the inspired selection of pieces from such an extensive output is ideally balanced to provide 80 minutes of continuous delight at one sitting (not to mention replays…)."

ORGANISTS' REVIEW

Release date: 12 February 2007
Catalogue No: DCD34044
Total playing time: 1:19:40
 
Recorded on 22-23 Feburary 2005 at Caird Hall, Dundee
 
Producer & Engineer: Paul Baxter
24-bit digital editing: Adam Binks
24-bit digital mastering: Paul Baxter
 
Design: Margareta Jönsson
Photography: Dr Raymond Parks
 

Album Booklet

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