LEIGHTON Complete Organ Works

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Kenneth Leighton

Genre:

Instrumental

Label: Resonus Classics

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 208

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: RES10178

RES10178. LEIGHTON Complete Organ Works

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
(6) Fantasies on Hymn Tunes Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Martyrs (Dialogues on a Scottish psalm-tune) Kenneth Leighton, Composer
John Butt, Organ
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Improvisation in Memoriam Maurice de Sausmarez Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Missa de Gloria Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Festival Fanfare Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Et resurrexit Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
These are thy Wonders (A Song of Renewal) Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Nicky Spence, Tenor
Stephen Farr, Organ
Veni creator spiritus Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Prelude, Scherzo and Passacaglia Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Paean Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Elegy Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Ode Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Fantasy on a chorale, 'Es ist genug' Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Chloë Hanslip, Violin
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Rockingham Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Fanfare Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Veni Redemptor - A Celebration Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
Improvisations 'De Profundis' Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Kenneth Leighton, Composer
Stephen Farr, Organ
The first disc in this three-disc set was released separately in 2014 and I reviewed it in these pages. I liked it a lot, and suggested that the Rieger organ of Edinburgh’s St Giles’ Cathedral helped clarify Leighton’s ‘dry and acerbic chromaticisms’. Hearing it again only serves to reinforce that opinion. However, newer recordings of the same instrument elsewhere in this set are mellower and generously enhance the sound of Paean and Fanfare, two short works by which many organists first came to experience Leighton’s distinctive sound world.

Stephen Farr presents a particularly fine performance of Leighton’s earliest organ work, the Prelude, Scherzo and Passacaglia, and a tremendously compelling account of Et resurrexit. These are included on the second disc, which was recorded on another remarkably bright-toned instrument, the Klais of Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Here, again, the recordings are exceptional both for the clarity of detail and for the immediacy of the sound.

The set goes a little beyond its brief in including three intriguing ensemble works which involve the organ. Martyrs finds Farr and John Butt joining forces in an organ duet, while Nicky Spence partners Farr for These Are Thy Wonders, a rare work for tenor voice and organ (off the top of my head the only other one I know is Flor Peeters’s Ubi caritas). Spence’s bright, clear, almost bell-like tenor is so well matched to the Birmingham Klais that it sounds almost like another organ stop.

The third ensemble piece continues a fine tradition of music for organ and violin (think Rheinberger, Karg-Elert and Dupré). The deeply sensuous tone of Chloë Hanslip combined with the warm and luscious sound of the Willis in St Paul’s, Knightsbridge, is so captivating that one wonders why the Fantasy on Es ist genug has not established a firmer foothold in the repertory.

The only disappointments are the six short Improvisations for harpsichord. Adam Binks in his outstanding booklet-note suggests that these were written when the composer was experiencing a period of ‘stress and upheaval’. It makes for some uncomfortable listening, not helped by a rather harsh-sounding instrument. It might have pushed timing to the limit but how welcome a new recording of the Organ Concerto would have been instead. Splendid as the John Scott/Richard Hickox performance is (Chandos, 7/08), there is always room for one more, especially from so perceptive an interpreter of Leighton’s music as Stephen Farr reveals himself to be.

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