Great Cathedral Organs EMI Classics***

No two organs are alike. And, in fact, individual organs may not resemble their old selves when they’ve been through a rebuild. EMI’s 1960s series of Great Cathedral Organs, which documented the instruments of 19 British cathedrals, is here contained on 13 CDs (with generous bonus tracks, and thorough documentation in PDF files). Exeter’s organ was rebuilt even before the recording here was first issued, and many more have been modified since. So this set encapsulates a particular time regarding the character of individual instruments as well as of performers and their choice of repertoire. The larger instruments snort and slaver like the big romantic beasts that they are, the players sometimes sounding like boys (they’re all men) with very special toys. There’s a huge bias towards British music, but major works by Schoenberg, Nielsen, Franck, Liszt, Reubke and Mendelssohn also feature. See url.ie/57cs