Animal Parade
New music, played on a new organ in a new cathedral, is a delight
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: William (James) Mathias, Christopher Steel, Dobrinka Tabakova, John (Linton) Gardner, John Rutter, Iain Farrington
Genre:
Instrumental
Label: Regent
Magazine Review Date: 1/2011
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: REGCD346

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Changing Moods |
Christopher Steel, Composer
Christopher Steel, Composer William Saunders, Organ |
(5) Dances |
John (Linton) Gardner, Composer
John (Linton) Gardner, Composer William Saunders, Organ |
Recessional |
William (James) Mathias, Composer
William (James) Mathias, Composer William Saunders, Organ |
Diptych |
Dobrinka Tabakova, Composer
Dobrinka Tabakova, Composer William Saunders, Organ |
Toccata in 7 |
John Rutter, Composer
John Rutter, Composer William Saunders, Organ |
Animal Parade |
Iain Farrington, Composer
Iain Farrington, Composer William Saunders, Organ |
Author: Marc Rochester
Perhaps the building’s generous acoustic rather muddies the clean lines of Christopher Steel’s jolly suite and blunts the rhythmic vigour of Rutter’s lightweight Toccata but this is more than compensated for by the bright, perky and crisp voicing of the organ itself – most vividly displayed in the sparkling open of Gardner’s Dances and the sprightly marching tread of Mathias’s Recessional – and Saunders’s rhythmically vital and athletically inclined playing. The recording feels a little distant but the whole thing exudes bright cheer and happiness; and you can’t say that about every organ recording.
Not exactly a “world premiere recording” as claimed in the booklet (Hyperion got there first, but with just three of the 12 movements), Iain Farrington’s Animal Parade gives the disc its title (even if the cover image depicts two animals which don’t appear musically). Despite a superficial nod towards Saint-Saëns’s Carnival, this is very much an original work. Not uniformly successful and possibly in need of the optional narrations to break it up, Saunders nevertheless communicates the wit and humour admirably, and while I can’t accept Farrington’s impudent inclusion of “Critics” in his zoological catalogue, my resentment is easily assuaged by this delightfully happy and unaffected playing.
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