Reviews for
GMCD 7210 - Nicolas
Kynaston plays Franz Liszt
Choir and Organ January February 02
The recorded sound has enough distance to give
atmosphere without sacrificing clarity. A well filled disc, it would make
a good introduction to these monuments of organ writing. Kynaston is
completely at home in this music on this organ. The subtlety of the
registration demonstrates Liszt to be a master of colour and not just a
creator of monolithic rhapsody. The sleeve notes are excellent.
The Organ - Vol.80 No. 316 Summer 2001
Franz Liszt: Organ Works
Nicholas Kynaston / Ingoldstadt Münster
GUILD GMCD 7210
One of my treasured memories of a fairly recent Southwark
Festival was of Nicholas Kynaston playing major works by Liszt (not
normally one of my favourite composers) at the Cathedral, combining
richness of colour with lucidity. These are included in this marvellous
recording on a 1977 Klais organ at lngolstadt Münster. Detail is not
obscured despite the long reverberation period, a considerable
achievement.
The culmination of the programme is the Fantasia and Fugue
"Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" from a chorale in Meyerbeer's Le
Prophete. Of particular interest are two transcriptions for organ, Funérailles
for the piano (in memory of Chopin - clearly alluding to the A flat
polonaise) and the affecting symphonic poem Orpheus, a favourite of
mine, considered by Wagner to be Liszt's finest work – goes wonderfully
well on the organ. If you have had a surfeit of Bach, try this for
something completely different and of great distinction.
PGW
It is easy to write off Liszt's original organ music and the
transcriptions made by himself and others as all rhetoric and bombast.
Often his feeling for organ sonorities and his juxtaposition of seemingly
unrelated chords generate a distinctive mysticism. Nicholas Kynaston
translates all this with an unerring feeling for the appropriate colour.
Only in the "Ad nos" fugue is there a loss of clarity resulting
from an over fondness for reed choruses. The would be purchaser is
strongly advised to go the second mile and buy a copy of the music. Only
then will he/she be able to rejoice fully in the magnificence of this
playing. The engineers have done wonders in this reverberant acoustic.
DWe
BBC Music Magazine June 2001 page 90
Fantasia & Fugue on 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam', Orpheus
(arr. Gottschalg, Liszt); Funérallies;Trauerode; Excelsior!; Am Grabe
Richard Wagners
Nicolas Kynaston (Organ)
This re-release of Kynaston's 1995 recording of Liszt's great Fantasia
and Fugue on 'Ad nos, ad salutarem undam' still knocks spots off any
other version. It is not that it lacks serious competition, either. There
is Preston at the organ of Westminster Abby and Scott at St. Paul's
Cathedral, and for the authentically minded, a fine recording by Stefan
Bleicher on Merseburg Cathedral organ, where the piece was premiered. But
there is no doubt that Kynaston still comes out on top, with his mature
and wholly engaging, reading.
The 1977 Klais organ of Ingolstadt Minster is a huge musical resource,
similar in size to that of Mersburg Cathedral, though possessing yet more
colour and depth. For music of such expansive ambition it is the perfect
partner, if used with the sensitivity and imagination it is here, and
recorded with such exemplary luminosity and detail. Kynaston's real
achievement, however, is to engineer a complete poetic span, lasting over
half an hour. His control of architecture allows space both for the
breathtakingly beautiful musical oasis and for the head-over-heels dive
towards the final chorale theme. In so many attempts at this piece, the
central Adagio section is soporific and the final fugue facile, if
technically assured, with the two sections sitting beside each other as in
an estranged couple. Kynaston forces us to live and breath the piece
with him, coaxing us and then finally hauling us bodily to the final
thrilling bars. It is Kynaston at his best.
William Whitehead
Performance:
Sound:
Organists Review May 2001 Paul Hale
Franz Liszt - Organ Works
Played by Nicolas Kynaston on the Klais organ at Ingolstadt Minster.
Excelsior! Am Grabe Richard Wagners;Funérailles from Harmonies Poétiques
et Religiuse;
Trauerode from Zwei Vortragsstücke für Orgel
Orpheus; Fantasia & Fugue on "Ad nos, ad Salutarem undem.
Recorded by Jonathan Wearn April 1995
TT 75'26" Guild7210
This is one of those stunning recordings which from the corner stones
of a record collection indeed it was and ' Editor's Choice' of Gramophone.
As all reviewers noted then the combination of player, music and organ is
a heady mix resulting in a musically spectacular result, brilliantly
captured in a vast acoustic by the experienced Jonathan Wearn. If you have
worn out your original CD, here's the golden opportunity to replace it.
Buy it anyway as a spare, the Guild booklet is a vast improvement on the
earlier Carlton release
LISZT
Organ Works
 played by
Nicholas Kynaston
Guild GMCD
7210
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