The King of Instruments: A Voice Reborn (2017)

The purpose of this release from King's College Cambridge is to celebrate the 2016 restoration of the organ at King's College Chapel. An American composer visiting Britain once expressed wonderment at the high level of interest in classical music among ordinary people there, claiming that an average taxi driver could tell you about the music of Elliott Carter. It may have been an exaggeration, but to judge from the appearance of this release on classical sales charts, maybe not. The organist is Stephen Cleobury, better ... Read More

The purpose of this release from King's College Cambridge is to celebrate the 2016 restoration of the organ at King's College Chapel. An American composer visiting Britain once expressed wonderment at the high level of interest in classical music among ordinary people there, claiming that an average taxi driver could tell you about the music of Elliott Carter. It may have been an exaggeration, but to judge from the appearance of this release on classical sales charts, maybe not. The organist is Stephen Cleobury, better known as a conductor, but certainly someone very familiar with the organ. You get a group of pieces designed to showcase the instrument in various ways, including one new work, together with engineering with which great care has been taken: there's not a murky moment in the whole hour of music. Along with the usual mixture of Bach and contemporary English pieces, there's the not terribly common Organ Sonata in F minor, Op. 65, No. 1, of Mendelssohn, an externally Bachian work in which... Read Less