Release Date: 15 January 2021
Label: Australian Eloquence
Packaging Type: Box Set
No of Units: 22
Barcode: 028948414352
Genres: Classical Solo Instrumental
Description
This newly compiled 22 CD Box contains the complete Argo recordings, selected BBC Broadcasts (some heard here for the first time), and more.
"Weir is to the organ what Heifetz was to the violin, and Casals to the cello – a phenomenon." – JOHN AMIS
Released to celebrate the doyenne of organists on her 80th birthday (17 January 2021) and spanning her illustrious career of nearly five decades and performed on sixteen organs from six countries, the accompanying 20,000-word booklet includes informative introductions to the recordings alongside Gillian Weir's reminiscences and amusing anecdotes from the recording sessions and from her encounters with composers such as Olivier Messiaen and William Mathias.
This 22 CD celebration features Dame Gillian Weir's complete Argo recordings, selected recordings on other labels that have reverted to her, and most enticingly, no fewer than ten discs of previously unpublished BBC radio broadcasts – selected by Dame Gillian herself.
The box includes:
• A showpiece recital of dazzling toccatas and fantasias from the French organ tradition opening and closing with spectacular pieces by Marcel Dupre, the epitome of the French organist-composer tradition
• A recording of Charles Camilleri's breathtaking Missa Mundi, one of many pieces written for and premiered by Gillian Weir
• A stunning disc of pieces by Messiaen recorded at the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1966, shortly after she won 1st prize at the St Albans International Organ Competition
• A recital on the beautiful organ of Hexham Abbey, built by Dame Gillian's late husband, Lawrence Phelps
• No fewer than ten discs of previously unpublished BBC radio broadcasts – selected by Gillian Weir, including:
o The complete organ works of Cesar Franck, recorded on the magnificent Cavaille-Coll organ of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse
o A thrilling "Proms" recital from The Royal Albert Hall, London of music inspired by dance
o The then-complete works of Messiaen recorded in 1979 at the The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC, on the organ chosen by Messiaen himself for the premiere of one of his monumental works
o Dame Gillian's recital from St Alban's Abbey recorded the day after winning the St Alban's Competition, and marking the beginning of her recording career
o A recital of French music drawn from three individual programmes
Gillian Weir's career has been highly unusual in its scope, tracing a trajectory unique for an organist, right from her spectacular double début shortly after that competition win: first as concerto soloist on the 1st Night of the Proms, and then with a solo recital at the Royal Festival Hall.
Gillian Weir has brought new audiences to an appreciation of organ music through her TV appearances and documentaries. Her six-part BBC series The King of Instruments, in which she was both presenter and player, drew a weekly audience of two million, exceptional for an arts programme, and was repeated in several other countries.
Dame Gillian is acclaimed as a pre-eminent exponent of Messiaen's music, and is widely sought-after as lecturer and writer (including for Faber's Messiaen Companion). Yvonne Loriod Messiaen's "C'est magnifique!" sums up the reaction to her famous Messiaen recordings.
'Life should be lived in vivid colour. An understanding of the classical arts supplies that colour: gradually we see more beauty in everything, and we feel more deeply, understand other people at a more instinctive level, and, in short, live more intensely and more fully.' – DAME GILLIAN WEIR
'Dame Gillian is one of the greatest of living artists; her playing shows a perfect mixture of hand and heart, a true musician with the technique to tackle anything.' – JOHN AMIS, WRITER AND CRITIC
'Weir's virtuosity and control are staggering. An achievement of outstanding musical integrity' – GRAMOPHONE
'The organ world will never be the same again.' – JOHN ALLISON IN THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH reviewing Dame Gillian's final recital
Tracklisting
Josef Krips; Various Orchestras
Josef Krips
Neville Marriner; ASMF
New Vienna Octet, Vienna Wind Soloists
Wiener Oktett
John Mauceri; The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; Julie Andrews
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt; LSO; Alfred Brendel
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt; VPO; LSO; Sutherland; Backhaus
Tsovinar Suflyan
Amy Lin
Kenneth Hamilton
Celeste-Marie Roy
Yarno Missiaen
Mishka Rushdie Momen
Sergey Tanin
David Jalbert
