Whats on your turntable tonight?

Organ! Bach! Dupre! Alain! Awash in the sounds of the great instrument!

Start with a little Karl Richter playing on a delightful tracker organ in Copenhagen one of Bach's Schubler Chorales (DGG 139325), add a beautiful little Triosonata, then the powerful Prelude and Fugue in c minor.

Then head to David Payne's performances of Bach Chorale Preludes from a lost manuscript (now found!) on a marvelous Bozeman-Gibson tracker organ (Harmonia Munid HMC 5158)

Next, step to Dupre's massive Symphonie-Passion, played on the equally massive and very French sounding organ at Hedvig Eleonora Church in Stockholm, performed by the wonderful organist Torvald Toren (on a very impressive Proprius LP - 7855). Volume up! Bass anyone?

Finish with the Litanies of Jehan Alain, performed by the incomparable Marie-Claire Alain, Erato EPR 15555.

Last night: the symphonies of Franz Schubert.
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The Red Sox/Yankees drama for the American League championship has had my eye all week. As I write this, the Sox are up 4-0 in the 7th inning of game 6 behind brilliant pitching by Curt Schilling.

Some of the great Decca recordings! Fellow AudiogoN'r Texasdave got me started on this through an email conversation we've been having about the great recording engineers who worked for Decca and who were responsible for some of the best recordings ever made: Roy Wallace, Kenneth Wilkinson, John Dunkerley... Turns out that Dave and I share in a common a passionate respect for these recording engineers and the great recordings they made from the 1950s on. So, back to the archives to pull out some great music!

Britten: War Requiem, Britten/LSO, Melos Qt, London OSA 1255 (K. Wilkinson -eng) A truly superb recording. When Peter Pears opens with his first tenor solo, the verisimilitude of Pears being right on stage in front of you is just phenomenal.

Stravinsky: Petrouchka, Ansermet/OSR, Decca SXL 2011 (Athena reissue ALSS 10004) (Roy Wallace -eng) - Dave and I may disagree on this one, but on vinyl this is one of my all time favorite Roy Wallace recordings.

Falla: Three Cornered Hat (complete), Ansermet/OSR, Decca SXL 2296 (Speakers Corner reissue) (Roy Wallace -eng) A magical recording from 1960.

Ravel: Alborada del gracioso, Ansermet/OSR, Decca (Roy Wallace -eng) As Dave commented in his email to me: "It is truly spectacular. Neophytes are always amazed, after I play it, to hear it was recorded in 1960. I’ve challenged audiophile friends to come up with another version of this piece that can rival this Wallace recording... [none of the other modern contenders] can rival the old Wallace recording for vividness, immediacy, impact. I think it is a paragon of analog, tube-era recording." I couldn't agree more.
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Rush, I have some of these but not the Britten. Is it being re pressed by Speaker Corner or anyone else?

Albert, I've not seen a reissue of the Britten War Requiem and have not heard of one coming. My copy is a late English pressing on the London label (-4E in the deadwax), but it is superb.
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