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Georgi Mushel – Complete Organ Music
Georgi Mushel – Complete Organ Music
Rainer Aschemeier, The Listener (awarded five stars)
"I’m in love immediately and spontaneously in the peculiar music of choice-Uzbeks. One of the best organ music recordings I’ve heard so far this year. He (Saunders), in the UK has an excellent reputation........we can only say, as Saunders turns out to be an excellent performer, the phrasing is very good, technically also highly convincing and he possesses that rare gift of a personal and individual touch in organ music.”
Rupert Gough, Choir and Organ Magazine (awarded five stars)
“You will be richly rewarded by delving into this fine musical survey. Saunders’s playing is warmly persuasive. A highly recommended introduction to a neglected composer.”
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Georgi Alexandrovich Mushel was one of the first true exponents of Uzbek music. His complete organ works are recorded here for the first time on the Brilliant Classics label. A composer and gifted painter, Mushel found inspiration in many forms of art, including the architecture of Samarkand, the ancient Islamic city. The music of his Samarkand Suite represents the many different elements of the site, such as the Deserted Hills surrounding the city and the monuments shown in their full splendour thanks to the Rising Sun. The disc also contains the Uzbekistan Suite, beginning with the beautiful Aria and ending with a sprightly Toccata, as well as the Six Pieces for organ, and Elegy.
Gracious Groove – Organ Music of Dick Hyman
Gracious Groove – Organ Music of Dick Hyman
Choir and Organ Magazine
“Five stars! Benjamin Saunders proves as nimble an advocate as Leeds Cathedral’s 1904 Norman & Beard. Saunders’s moving arrangement of Hyman’s Variations on Shenandoah is beautifully realised.”
The Composer Dick Hyman
“I have now played the album numerous times and am absolutely delighted by it! Mr. Saunders’ performance was excellent and I’m proud to have these pieces in your new album. Thank you so much!”
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Richard “Dick” Hyman (b., 1927) is an American jazz legend best known for his versatility with jazz piano styles. Over a 60-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. Dick Hyman has well over 100 albums to his credit. Benjamin Saunders has worked with Dick Hyman in the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival and here makes the first recording of Mr Hyman’s complete organ works.
Hendrik Andriessen – The Four Chorals
Hendrik Andriessen – The Four Chorals
Journal für die Orgel
“He gives the music life and is absolutely essential listening, and performs its technical requirements effortlessly.”
NMZ Neuen Musikzeitung
“An extremely sensitive ear for the different aesthetics of the music.”
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Hendrik Andriessen (1892-1981) was one of the most important Dutch composers of the 20th century. Born into a family of church musicians he became the organist of the churches in Haarlem and Utrecht, and held several prominent positions in Dutch musical life. One of his highly gifted children is Louis Andriessen, the famous avant-garde composer.
Andriessen’s organ works are firmly rooted in his Roman-Catholic faith and its church music tradition. His monumental Chorales are modelled on the Chorales by César Franck: the grand symphonic conception, the spiritual depth and the harmonic language.
Arvo Pärt – Choral and Organ Music
Arvo Pärt – Choral and Organ Music
Gramophone Magazine
“This highly impressive disc features a selection of Pärt’s choral music and his complete output for organ. What makes the recording special is the full-throated sound of the choir, featuring both boy and girl trebles, captured in the spacious acoustics of Leeds Cathedral itself.'”
Artistxite
“Leeds Cathedral Choir under Benjamin Saunders share in the benefits of a successful new interpretation with the calm and contemplation that this withdrawn, deliberately simple music require. The impressive acoustics of the late-Gothic church gives the recordings a reverent, ceremonial shine. This combination makes the album particularly attractive, that places Pärt’s deep spirituality at the heart of the matter.”
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Arvo Pärt’s music resists the easily achieved peace of much Minimalist music of its time, even if its economy of gesture and expression – the joy taken in apparently simple beauty – has made him one of the iconic composers of our time. Such beauty is not simply achieved, and Pärt has written slowly, again unlike many of his contemporaries, filling each new piece with quiet quirks of harmony and unexpected turns that make them as satisfying to perform as they are to hear.
Maurice Duruflé – Complete Choral and Organ Music
Maurice Duruflé – Complete Choral and Organ Music
Gramophone Magazine
“Leeds Cathedral Choir…bright tone and honest, natural singing deliver very accomplished and satisfying performances. The choir are ably supported by the splendid accompaniments of the Skipton Camerata and organists Benjamin Saunders and Daniel Justin. It’s faithfully captured by the excellent recording… an enjoyable and rewarding two-CD set.”
Radio France
“Le disque coup de coeur de la semaine.” Sacrées Musique, Radio France
The Organ Magazine
“This is such a successful and inherently excellent idea that one is surprised that no French company has thought of it before.” The Organ Magazine
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The complete choral and organ works of Maurice Duruflé. The Requiem is recorded in the composers preferred edition of organ and reduced orchestration. These two disks present the heart of the small, carefully wrought oeuvre of a French composer whose name became a byword for compositional fastidiousness.
Benjamin Saunders plays the Organ of Leeds Cathedral
Benjamin Saunders plays the Organ of Leeds Cathedral
Cathedral Music Magazine
“Kushnariov achieves an intensity of feeling which is matched by the performer in this interpretation.”
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The first recording of the new Klais organ at Leeds Cathedral, played by Benjamin Saunders. The disc features original compositions by Vierne, Guilmant, Part, Howells and Kushnariov alongside transcriptions of music by Glass, Dvorak and Britten. The CD booklet contains full details of the organ.
Lauda Sion · Habemus Papam · Catholic Collection II · Favourite Catholic Hymns
Lauda Sion · Habemus Papam · Catholic Collection II · Favourite Catholic Hymns
Organists Review
“Performances full of spirit and commitment….excellent clarity and breadth – a shining example.”
“Sensitive and devotional…with a terrifically focused and contrasted reading.”
Church Music Quarterly
“Essential listening: This CD is testament to what can be achieved when proper investment is made in music and given support from the top. Many who mourn the demise and disintegration of music infrastructures over the past 30 years or so will gain inspiration from – and possibly envy at – what there is here. Congratulations to all involved.”
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Organ: youtube @Benjamin Saunders - Topic
Accordion: youtube @OrganAccordionConcerts
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