Czech Organ Works
A Slavic collection admirably delivered
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Vítezslav (Augustín Rudolf) Novák, Bohuslav (Jan) Martinu, Jirí Ropek, Leoš Janáček, Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 6/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN10463

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
St Wenceslas Triptych |
Vítezslav (Augustín Rudolf) Novák, Composer
Iain Quinn, Organ Vítezslav (Augustín Rudolf) Novák, Composer |
Glagolitic Mass, Movement: Postlude (Intrada) |
Leoš Janáček, Composer
Iain Quinn, Organ Leoš Janáček, Composer |
Variations on 'Victimae Paschali Laudes' |
Jirí Ropek, Composer
Iain Quinn, Organ Jirí Ropek, Composer |
Vigilie |
Bohuslav (Jan) Martinu, Composer
Bohuslav (Jan) Martinu, Composer Iain Quinn, Organ |
(6) Preludes |
Bedřich Smetana, Composer
Bedřich Smetana, Composer Iain Quinn, Organ |
(8) Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Fugue, G minor |
Antonín Dvořák, Composer
Antonín Dvořák, Composer Iain Quinn, Organ |
Author: Marc Rochester
Elsewhere the Norwich organ, masterfully handled by Quinn, reveals a rich diversity of sounds entirely suited to music which, for the most part, is solid and purposeful rather than dazzlingly colourful. Quinn handles these scores well, not exactly turning them into show-stopping hidden wonders of the repertoire but offering solid and dependable performances which perfectly mirror the musical idiom. Jan Hora (on a Vixen import) is more compelling in the Martinu Vigilia while, by giving us all eight of the various Preludes and Fugues which Dvorák wrote as student exercises at the Prague Organ School, offering something rather more historically worthwhile than Quinn’s careful but pedestrian account of the G minor Fugue.
This may not be a disc to set the world on fire but Iain Quinn has performed an important service in bringing these interesting works into the spotlight in performances which are reliable and worthy and, in the case of the Ropek Variations, surprisingly absorbing.
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