Listen & tracks

2 of 15 tracks have a preview · 11 works · 73:21

1 Toccata John Weaver 4:15
Concerto in D minor after Vivaldi, BWV 596Johann Sebastian Bach 4 movements10:43
1. 2 (Allegro): Grave 1:27
2. 3 Fuga 3:20
3. 4 Largo e spiccato 2:32
4. 5 (Allegro) 3:24
6 Master Tallis’s Testament Herbert Howells 6:36
Sonata No. 3Felix Mendelssohn 2 movements10:59
1. 7 Con moto maestoso 8:25
2. 8 Andante tranquillo 2:34
9 Elijah on the Mountain Robert Ampt 8:17
10 Bells Jean Langlais 2:42
11 Mein junges Leben hat ein End Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck 7:52
12 Trumpet Tune in E flat David N. Johnson 2:55
13 Moto ostinato Petr Eben 5:09
14 Symphonie No. 4 Louis Vierne Romance 8:25
15 Toccata Colin Brumby 5:28

Outstanding performances of colourful, contrasting and arresting music from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, including two previously unrecorded works by living Australian composers.

In the artist’s words

The Toccata was composed during my second year as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music (1960). It is dedicated to Grace Newsome Cushman, a remarkable theory teacher from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the director of a summer music camp in Vermont which I attended from my early teens. I later was deeply involved in the teaching and administration of the camp. I wrote it at a time when I was feeling that the organ literature was in need of more joyful pieces, and so I set out to write a toccata with a decidedly sunny disposition. It has been recorded several times and is often used as a wedding recessional.

— John Weaver

Elijah on the Mountain is a continuous, multi-section work opening with a bold fanfare; the motive upon which the entire piece is based. Subsequent sections include fugal and ostinato passages and culminate in a full-organ series of hectic runs and dense chords. A dramatic, but quiet and contemplative return to the opening fanfare leads to a mysterious, unison ending. The work is inspired by the passage from the First Book of Kings: And he said, Go forth upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire, a still small voice.

— Robert Ampt

This Toccata was commissioned in 1995 by Paul Gunning in memory of his brother and sister-in-law, Clive and Margaret Gunning, who were killed in a car crash in Scotland in August 1994. During Clive’s career, he held church organist positions in both Sydney and Glasgow. He bequested to St James Presbyterian Church, Orange, a practice pipe organ he had commissioned by Roger Pogson. It was at the dedication of this memorial to Clive and Margaret Gunning on 28th October 1995, that Peter Kneeshaw gave the first public performance of this work. It was played again at the wedding of Paul Gunning’s eldest daughter in June 1996. It was also played in 2002 at the dedication of an organ in St Margaret’s, Knightswood, Glasgow, an instrument which Clive Gunning had been involved with, just prior to his death, in order to have it acquired for restoration.

Regarding the music, it is typical of that musical form that the Toccata has been crafted to provide a vehicle for a display of the organist’s performance skills. It is cast in binary or two-part form, each half consisting of, firstly, a section requiring considerable manual dexterity and, secondly, one requiring considerable agility of the feet on the pedalboard.

— Colin Brumby

Reviews

I thought Amy Johansen’s choices to be quite breathtaking in their coverage of a wide range of musical periods (old to recent) and this was vindicated subsequently in single-sitting listening – splendid playing and good music, highly recommendable.

— John Worcester, Libretto

Impeccable and well energised playing, interesting repertoire and one of Australia’s most distinctive instruments – a sure recipe for success

— Peter Jewkes, Organ Australia

Bloody Brilliant…

— Godelieve Ghavalas

Artists

Amy Johansen

organ

Amy Johansen is the Sydney University Organist and an Honorary Carillonist at the University. Although her repertoire spans all periods, it was her first CD, The Embrace of Fire, devoted to the organ music of Naji Hakim, that first brought her international acclaim.

Robert Ampt

composer

Robert Ampt is the Sydney City Organist and Organist/Choirmaster of Sydney's German Lutheran Church. An active recitalist, teacher and composer for the organ, he has written children's introductions to the instrument and an extensive history of the Sydney Town Hall organ.

Johann Sebastian Bach

composer

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the late Baroque. His sacred and secular music for choir, orchestra, organ and solo instruments remains among the foundations of the Western concert and church repertory.

Colin Brumby

composer

Colin Brumby (1933–2018) was an Australian composer and conductor whose prolific catalogue ranges across opera, concertos, chamber music, choral works and songs.

Petr Eben

composer

Petr Eben wrote prolifically for the organ, alongside vocal, choral and orchestral scores. His language is neoexpressionist with flashes of impressionist colour, often grown from public improvisation into lasting recital cycles.

Herbert Howells

composer

Herbert Howells wrote Anglican church music of rare harmonic warmth and contemplative beauty, from carol-anthems such as A Spotless Rose to Latin motets and organ works steeped in the Tudor tradition.

Jean Langlais

composer

Jean Langlais wrote organ and sacred choral music of rich, complex harmony and overlapping modes, shot through with an earthy Celtic folkiness that sits beside Franck, Tournemire and the mid-century French school.

Felix Mendelssohn

composer

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. His works include symphonies, concertos, oratorios, piano music and chamber music.

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

composer

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621) was a Dutch composer, organist and teacher whose keyboard and sacred vocal music stand at the turn from Renaissance to Baroque. His organ works and psalm settings remain central to the early keyboard and choral repertory.

Louis Vierne

composer

Louis Vierne’s organ music balances elegant form with romantically rich harmony: six symphonies, fantasy pieces crowned by the Carillon de Westminster, and liturgical scores written for the great French instruments.