Bridge; Vaughan Williams Complete Organ Music
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Frank Bridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Label: Priory
Magazine Review Date: 12/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 80
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: PRCD537
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (3) Pieces |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Frank Bridge, Composer |
| (3) Pieces (1939) |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Frank Bridge, Composer |
| Lento |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Frank Bridge, Composer |
| Prelude and Fugue |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (2) Preludes on Welsh Folksongs |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (3) Preludes on Welsh Hymn-Tunes |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Symphony No. 2, '(A) London Symphony', Movement: Lento |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Christopher Nickol, Organ Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
Author: Marc Rochester
Christopher Nickol is quite right in his notes to this disc in claiming that Vaughan Williams and Bridge are known amongst organists for just one piece. The former’s undeniably lovely Prelude on “Rhosymedre” (from the Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn-Tunes) and the latter’s Adagio in E have been popular since the day they were first published. But when a composer is known for just one work it’s often because nothing else he wrote is really worthwhile – which, sadly, is the case with Vaughan Williams’s organ music. True, he had his moments: there is a lot of energy in the Toccata (“St David’s Day”) – one of the Two Preludes on Welsh Folksongs – but after chasing its tail round and round a few times he abandons the task long before the music reaches the two-minute mark; a feeling of great power permeates the Prelude on “Bryn Calfaria”, but then it would take a singularly inept musical imagination (which Vaughan Williams’s certainly was not) to base a piece around this stirring tune without sending some shivers down the spine. For the most part his pieces, with their endless rows of parallel fourths and overworked sequences, are as dull as ditch-water. Nickol is a true devotee and if anybody could turn them into riveting musical experiences he could – it’s not his fault that this disc doesn’t persuade me that Vaughan Williams is anything other than a ‘one-work’ composer for the organ.
Frank Bridge, though, presents an altogether different case. My personal favourite has long been the scintillating Allegro con spirito (from the same 1905 set of three pieces as the ubiquitous Adagio) but I am captivated by virtually all the Bridge pieces on this disc. It’s not just good music, it’s ideally suited to this historically important instrument – Harrison’s first concert-hall organ and designed by that great virtuoso Alfred Hollins, hence its stunning array of distinctive stops which are displayed in the transcription of the Lento from Vaughan Williams’s London Symphony. Nickol gives affectionate and committed performances and Priory’s recording, complete with a remarkably vivid bass, serves the instrument singularly well.'
Frank Bridge, though, presents an altogether different case. My personal favourite has long been the scintillating Allegro con spirito (from the same 1905 set of three pieces as the ubiquitous Adagio) but I am captivated by virtually all the Bridge pieces on this disc. It’s not just good music, it’s ideally suited to this historically important instrument – Harrison’s first concert-hall organ and designed by that great virtuoso Alfred Hollins, hence its stunning array of distinctive stops which are displayed in the transcription of the Lento from Vaughan Williams’s London Symphony. Nickol gives affectionate and committed performances and Priory’s recording, complete with a remarkably vivid bass, serves the instrument singularly well.'
Bridge; Vaughan Williams Complete Organ Music
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