Kristian Krogsøe, Anders Johnsson (organ)

DANACORD DACOCD 971-972 [73’33], [75’10]

★★★★

The largest organ in Denmark is primarily the result of a project in 1928 during which Theodor Frobenius enlarged a previous organ. It included a case and pipework from Lambert Kastens (1730) and a later, partly French-inspired instrument by Johan Andreas Demant (1876). The 1928 project was partly inspired by the Alsatian Organ Reform; Albert Schweitzer visited to offer his counsel in 1922. The resulting organ had 83 stops, including 17 new reeds, ordered from a supply house in Paris. Subsequent tonal changes in the spirit of the Organ Reform Movement compromised the concept but the organ enjoyed considerable fame thanks to recordings by Dame Gillian Weir and others. When the time came to restore it, and with plenty of money available, the opportunity was taken to enlarge it considerably. In the first instance the changes made both to stoplist and voicing were reversed. The additions included ideas which percolated in the period prior to 1928 including mutations and American character stops. Reeds were also added which featured in the failed Mutin proposal for the organ dating from 1923. These include a Tugna Magna 16ft and Tuba Mirabilis 8ft made by Terry Shires in England, and horizontal trumpets copied from the organ in the Sacre Coeur. The 1730s front pipes, silent since 1876, were made to sound again. The project, undertaken by Marcussen, has left an organ with no fewer than 96 stops. The present double CD and richly illustrated book is beautifully presented and the playing by both organists is exceptional. Inevitably some repertoire is more convincing than others; Dupré’s Symphonie Passion (Krogsoe) and Searle Wright’s Lyric Rhapsody (Johnsson; a real slice of Americana) particular highlights. If the immediate appearance of the new tuba in Whitlock’s Fanfare and its juxtaposition with Bach’s Sei Gegrüsset partita is a touch discombobulating, this slightly sets the tone – the organ is highly colourful but also slightly disparate in its personality. This is a fine collector’s item.