HAVPCD344 – British Fantasies & Fanfares

This programme is happily not just another ‘English cathedral organ music’ compilation although elements within it may be familiar in that context. The key to the chemistry of the mix is the word ‘fantasy’. This term is one much used by composers of the early 20th century. It referred to compositions in one movement which drew their inspiration from the form of the same name of the first Elizabethan period and was much encouraged by Walter Cobbett (1847-1937) who founded an annual composition competition to encourage composers to write in the form. None of the works on this disc relate to that competition.

HAVPCD339 – Richard Pantcheff

Whilst internationally renowned as a composer in many genres, Richard Pantcheff has established a particular reputation as a specialist composer of Choral and Organ music. Many of his works have been commissioned and performed by the major Cathedral and College Choirs of the UK and Germany, including those of Salisbury, Winchester, St Paul’s, and Glasgow Cathedrals, as well as the choirs of Magdalen College and Lincoln College, Oxford, and the Clerks of Christ Church.
His music has been performed extensively in the UK, as well as in the USA, the Caribbean, Germany, Italy, and, most recently, New Zealand.
Much of his output for Organ has been published, distributed, and performed around the world, and his choral and organ works have been broadcast in the US, the UK, and the Caribbean. A large number of his compositions have appeared on commercially-released CDs, to wide critical acclaim, most recent of which has been the recording of Five Elizabethan Lyrics, on the SOMM label.

HAVPCD338 – Organ Works by Buxtehude & Jackson

At the forefront of British organ builders is the world-renowned N P Mander Ltd of London. Noel Mander, the firm’s founder, installed his first Cathedral organ in Sheffield Cathedral in 1966. The instrument was substantially completed to the agreed specification, but for its planned Nave Division, following almost ten years of discussion and vacillation. The final scheme was drawn up in November 1964 by Dr Francis Jackson, Master of the Music at York Minster, forwardlooking for its day, with features which were more common on continental instruments than could be found on English Cathedral organs of the time. The separate Nave division, playable on the Great or on the Positive manual, was added in 1969. This proved to be a superbly effective addition, with its excellent voicing by Ian Bell. The action throughout was electric; the pipework was voiced generally on low wind-pressure but for a somewhat anachronistic high-pressure Tuba rank.