A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Friday, October 13, 2017

John Ireland - Organ Works (Stefan Kagl)


Information

Composer: John Ireland
  • (01)      Marcia Popolare
  • (02)      Elegy (arr. Alec Rowley)
  • (03)      Sursum Corda
  • (04)      Ala Marcia
  • (05)      Elegiac Romance
  • (06)      Capriccio
  • (07)      Holy Boy (A Carol of the Nativity)
  • (08-10) Miniature Suite
  • (11)      Meditation on John Keble's Rogationtide Hymn
  • (12)      Cavatina
  • (13)      Epic March (arr. Robert Gower)

Stefan Kagl, organ
Date: 2010
Label: cpo


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review

This disc presents works by John Ireland for organ. The music included ranges from the early Elegiac Romance, composed in1902, through the Alla Marcia and Sursum Corda of 1911 and Miniature Suite of 1912 to the Meditation on John Keble’s Rogationtide Hymn, the last work Ireland ever composed, in 1958. Some of the pieces featured are arrangements for organ of works he wrote for other instruments, such as Cavatina and the much-loved Holy Boy, either made by Ireland himself, or by others - Alec Rowley in the case of the Elegy from the Downland Suite, or Robert Gower in the case of the Epic March.

Stefan Kagl is an enthusiastic and persuasive advocate for these works - he wrote the good booklet notes as well - but I rather regret that I failed to find the music itself particularly inspiring; the pieces comprise rather four-square, symmetrical phrases, predictable melodic and harmonic directions and stock gestures that render the individual works rather similar in tone and character. The sound of the instrument also is not the most inspiring - slightly muddy or woolly for the most part, whilst some of the stops come over as nasal or sharp - this could, however, be the quality of the recording.

Kagl’s performances do their best in these slightly unpromising circumstances. The registration employed is appropriate, if not startlingly imaginative. The rhythms are well-marked where they need to be. The lyrical character of pieces is aptly-captured - some good legatos. The pacing allows the music to breathe without impeding the forwards momentum - such as is implied by the compositional structure.

The disc’s booklet is well-presented, with clear notes and photographs. It also includes the specifications of the organ, as well as an extensive note on the Herforder Munsterkirche and its organ.

A disc that will be of interest to Ireland aficionados, but not one for those who are already not overly-enamoured of this respected British composer.

-- Em Marshall-Luck, MusicWeb International

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

John Ireland (13 August 1879 – 12 June 1962) was an English composer and teacher of classical music. He studied piano with Frederic Cliffe and composition with Charles Villiers Stanford. He was strongly influenced by Debussy and Ravel as well as by the earlier works of Stravinsky and Bartók. From these influences, he developed his own brand of "English Impressionism", related more closely to French and Russian models than to the folk-song style then prevailing in English music. Ireland favoured small forms and wrote neither symphonies nor operas, although his Piano Concerto is considered among his best works.

***

Stefan Kagl (born 1963 in Munich) is a German church musician and concert organist. He studied with Klemens Schnorr and Peter Schammberge in Munich, and with Jean Langlais and Marie-Louise Jaquet-Langlais in Paris. Kagl also attended master classes with Harald Vogel, Ewald Kooiman, Ton Koopman, Hans-Ola Ericsson and Daniel Roth. Since 2002 he has been Cantor and Organist at Herforder Münster, and Artistic Director of Herforder Orgelsommers. In addition to his concert activities in Germany and abroad, he also publishes musicological essays in various specialist journals.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Kagl

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks
Links in comment
Enjoy!

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Choose one link, copy it to your browser's address bar, wait 5 seconds, then click on 'Skip Ad' (or 'Continue') (top right).
    If you are asked to download anything, IGNORE, only download from file hosting site (mega.nz).
    If MEGA shows 'Bandwidth Limit Exceeded' message, try to create a free account.

    http://eunsetee.com/XZwt
    or
    https://ouo.io/pjJoBl
    or
    http://uii.io/P8xW3C

    ReplyDelete