King of Instruments - The Art of Gillian Weir, Vol. 1 Main Performer or Conductor: Gillian Weir Accompaniment/Orchestra: Marcussen organ, St. Laurenskerk, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Instrumentation: Organ Individual Works: J.S. Bach (1685 - 1750) : Jonathan Lieberman - Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C, BWV 564 - Fantasia in G, BWV 572 - Trio Sonata in E-flat, BWV 525 - Passacaglia & Fugue in c, BWV 582 (Marcussen organ [1973], St. Laurenskerk, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Louis Marchand (1669-1732) Pieces d'Orgue: - Premier Livre - Cinquieme Livre (Kern organ [?], St. Maximin, Thionville, France) John Bull (1562-1628) - Dr. Bull's My Self - Dr. Bull's Jewell (Phelps organ [1974], Hexham Abbey, England) Format: Compact Disc Record Label: Argo Catalog Number: 460 186-2 Year Released/Recorded: 1977 1978 Total Playing Time: 79'09" Comments: Willem Van Galen said: Bach, the Marcussen organ, and Gillian Weir together account for some solid music-making here. The recording is clear and direct, and the music sounds remarkably transparent - even densely textured sections played "organo pleno". This CD is part of a boxed set of 5 CD's issued in 1998 which represent some of Dame Gillian Weir's "earliest recordings, justly hailed in their time, and until now unavailable on compact disc. They reflect her extraordinary scope of interest and some of them remain premiere recordings - which only serves to add to their importance as cornerstones of the recorded organ repertoire." (Quoted from the booklet notes.) This set should be of interest to many an organ aficionado. For one, I find Gillian Weir's playing to be in a class of its own (in a word, it's "regal"). For another, there were, at least to my knowledge, hardly any recordings of her playing available on CD before (the generous playing lengths of the CD's in this set - each one contains more than 75 minutes of music - nicely make up for this). For yet another, the set contains a wealth of music not usually encountered on CD (e.g., "Missa Mundi" by Charles Camilleri). And finally, most of the organs heard on these recordings appear not to be featured on CD all that often, either. The set (Argo 460 185-2) is issued in Australia and may be obtained from: - Classical Mail Order Warehouse, Perth, Australia (www.clmailor@tpgi.com.au) - Organ Historical Society (www.ohscatalog.org) Acknowledgements: Thank you to the following for submitting this recording and for your comments: Willem Van Galen Date First Submitted: 09/19/1999 Purchasing: Suggested Purchasing Sources Note: Inclusion in this database does not guarantee the availability of any recording. Some recordings may be out-of-print or no longer available.

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