Grier / Winpenny - Music for Organ - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Emperor Heinrich II and his wife Cunigunde of Luxembourg were an extraordinary Imperial couple. Henry was canonized in 1146, Cunigunde in 1200. Both were revered as saints in the Middle Ages. Bavarian Duke Heinrich II was crowned German king in Mainz Cathedral on June 7, 1002 (Coronation as emperor 1014). The first album in this set presents a selection of Gregorian chants from the coronation ceremony and the subsequent coronation mass. In 1288 the InchNova Historia KunegundisInch was written and set to late Gregorian Style music in order to celebrate the feast days of St. Cunigunde with specific texts and melodies. You can hear the evening songs of the Vespers as well as those for the night- the first and second nocturns.

The London-born Peter Racine Fricker was once a prominent figure on the British musical landscape but slipped from view after he took up a teaching post in California in 1964. This first-ever survey of his organ music reveals a vigorously contrapuntal style, one which reconciles a taste for crunchy dissonance with a strong sense of melodic direction, it's moods ranging from angular elegance to fierce climaxes swirling with energy and glittering with light. The organist here is Tom Winpenny, Assistant Master of the Music at St. Albans Cathedral and one of Britain's brightest young stars in the organ firmament. He was formerly Sub-Organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, and during this time he performed with the Cathedral Choir at the American Guild of Organists National Convention, performed in Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, and played for many major state occasions. He has also broadcast regularly on BBC Radio and been featured on American Public Media's 'Pipedreams.'

Radoslav Nikolov - Works for Violoncello & for Piano [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/08/2011