At the Proms #2237
. . . our annual summer visit to Royal Albert Hall for a concert on the spectacular Willis/Harrison & Harrison organ that once was the largest in the land.
Hour One
RICHARD WAGNER (trans. Westbrook & Laube): Tannhäuser Grand March
CÉSAR FRANCK: Grande piece symphonique
CHARLES-VALENTIN ALKAN: Scherzando (No. 10 in b-flat, fr Grands preludes, Op. 66)
ALKAN: Scherzando (played on the composer’s own pedal-piano, for which it was written) –Olivier Latry (1853 Erard/Cite de la Musique, Paris) Cite de la Musique 5278
Filler – WAGNER (see above)
Hour Two
DEREK BOURGEOIS: Serenade, Op. 22 –Christopher Herrick (Hyperion 66258)
FRANZ LISZT (trans. Laube): Piano Sonata in b (arranged for organ)
ALEXANDRE GUILMANT: Fantasy on Two English Melodies (Home, sweet home and Rule, Britannia), Op. 43 –Christopher Herrick (Hyperion 66258)
Filler – ALKAN (see above)
The concert performances of Wagner, Franck, Alkan and Liszt (r. 8-28-22) feature American recitalist Nathan Laube, who plays recitals internationally and teaches at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.
With 147 stops and 9,999 individual pipes, the Royal Albert Hall Organ, originally by Henry Willis (1871), reworked by Harrison & Harrison (1924 & 1933) and restored by Mander (2002), was once the largest in the world, and still is the second largest in England.
PIPEDREAMS is supported in memory of Mr. & Mrs. Wesley C. Dudley by their family, by grants from Walter McCarthy, Clara Ueland, and the Greystone Foundation, the Art and Martha Kaemmer Fund of the HRK Foundation, by Jan and Steve Kirchner, and by listener-contributors to this public radio station. Additional support comes from Muller Pipe Organ Company of Croton, OH, and Parsons Pipe Organ Builders of Canandaigua, NY, members of APOBA, the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, a collaborative of designers, creators, and maintainers of pipe organs found in religious and educational institutions, concert halls, and residences throughout the United States and beyond. A resource guide and member prospectus is available at APOBA.COM.
