Hot on the heels of Jennifer Bate’s magnificent Somm disc of organ music by Samuel Wesley comes this companion volume, three-quarters of which was recorded at the same 2003 sessions in St James’s Church, Bermondsey. This instrument (built by James Bishop in 1829 and restored two years ago by Goetze and Gwynn) is ideally suited to this late Georgian repertory and its delightful tonal palette has been beautifully captured by recording engineer Simon Eadon.
BR>The disc opens with a substantial Concerto by Samuel Wesley’s elder brother, Charles. Dating from 1775, its post-Handelian, pared-down textures reveal a strong structural plan. What fine fugists those brothers were! Samuel’s Fugue for Dr Mendelssohn is typically quirky, and Charles brings the fugal section of his A minor Voluntary to an impressive conclusion.

William Russell’s Fourth Voluntary (1812) is a landmark work in English organ music since it gives very specific directions for use of the swell pedal. Stylistically it wanders, but charmingly so. Thomas Attwood’s Dirge is true to its title. What would Mozart (Attwood’s teacher) have made of it? The contours of SS Wesley’s Andante in G meander most satisfactorily, and only the two pieces of his recorded in Swansea are a little stodgily played.

The revelation is the imaginative Prelude and Fugue by Parry’s predecessor as professor of music at Oxford, Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley. We owe much thanks to Jennifer Bate for assembling another focused, informative and illuminating disc.