The idea of playing the likes of the "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde on an organ has a distinct air of novelty nowadays, but in fact most of the arrangements on this delightful release by Olivier Latry are more than a century old. The genre was long dismissed as insufficiently high-minded, but now, thanks to Latry, the enjoyment has been allowed to re-emerge. Big names, including Max Reger and even Franz Liszt, whose version of the Chopin Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4, is the oldest work here, number among the ...
Read More
The idea of playing the likes of the "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde on an organ has a distinct air of novelty nowadays, but in fact most of the arrangements on this delightful release by Olivier Latry are more than a century old. The genre was long dismissed as insufficiently high-minded, but now, thanks to Latry, the enjoyment has been allowed to re-emerge. Big names, including Max Reger and even Franz Liszt, whose version of the Chopin Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4, is the oldest work here, number among the arrangers. Both piano and orchestral works are used as sources, and each provides a slightly different flavor. The sense of fun appears immediately with the "Sabre Dance" from Aram Khachaturian's Gayane, showcasing the blazing high register of the new organ at the Paris Philharmonie; this is nicely framed by the Danse macabre, Op. 40, of Saint-Saëns at the end. But the Chopin-Liszt item, the transcription of Liszt's own Der heilige Franziskus von Paula auf den Wogen schreitend by Reger,...
Read Less