Jehan Alain

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
Hooray! Another outstanding Renaissance album! Compared to the previous album “Ashes are burning”, the bass is more timid, but it still sounds as loud and bottom as Yes and Rush of the 70’s.

This 6CD set contains 100 tracks of popular organ music from the catalogues of EMI Classics and Virgin Classics performed by some of the world’s finest organists on a wide variety of instruments from all over the UK and Continental Europe.

As a leading concert organist, Prof. Jean-Christophe Geiser has enjoyed a rapid career since 1991 when at the age of 26 he was named competition winner for the prestigious position of titular organist of the Cathedral of Lausanne, Switzerland's most important gothic building. In 1993, he was appointed professor of organ at the Lausanne University of Music, where he is currently dean of the organ department. He is also artistic director of the Cathedral’s Concert Society. He studied at the Berne University of Music with Otto Seger, earning a diploma in piano, and with Heinrich Gurtner, learning a soloist’s diploma with honors. He was twice awarded the Prix de la Fondation Göhner, enabling him to study organ further with François-Henri Houbart as well as to attend a number of diverse courses in performance and interpretation.

In this extensive 50-disc set, Brilliant Classics presents 500 years of organ music. The pieces presented here offer a survey of diversity, value, and historical importance. The first portion of the set is devoted to pieces from the early period. Groundbreaking organ composers such as Cavazzoni and De Macque, who developed the capriccio and canzon forms and composed complex counterparts to the periods vocal music, are featured here. The Baroque and Classical eras are represented in this set by the likes of powerhouse composers Mozart, J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Handel, Telemann, and Haydn.

‘Marvellously resourceful and inventive scores which are given vivid and persuasive performances by Tortelier and the BBC Philharmonic orchestra… The engineers give us a splendidly detailed and refined portrayal of these complex textures – the sound is really state-of-the-art.’

The Penguin Complete Guide