Listen & tracks
4 of 33 tracks have a preview · 30 works · 78:52
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1 Prelude Norman Kaye :59
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2 Spoken introduction 1:23
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3 Noël Louis-Claude Daquin Melbourne Town Hall 5:06
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4 Scherzo Percy Whitlock Melbourne Town Hall 1:48
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5 Melbourne Town Hall Improvisation Norman Kaye :53
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6 O Song of Courage Norman Kaye Littlejohn Chapel 1:24
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7 A Song of Victory Norman Kaye Littlejohn Chapel 2:53
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8 Postlude, 1963 Norman Kaye Trinity College Chapel 1:06
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9 Communion Service Norman Kaye Canterbury Fellowship 4:07
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10 Improvisation, 1968 Norman Kaye Trinity College Chapel 2:07
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11 Fantasia super Komm heiliger Geist (Come Holy Ghost) BWV 651 Johann Sebastian Bach Trinity College Chapel 6:40
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12 Impromptu Louis Vierne Archer Memorial organ 3:26
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13 Lord Jesus hath a garden Flor Peeters St Andrew's, Brighton 2:52
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14 O praise ye the Lord Charles Hubert Hastings Parry Cantus Choro 2:52
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15 Christ is made the sure foundation Henry Purcell Cantus Choro 3:36
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16 All creatures of our God and King Cantus Choro 3:42
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17 In the bleak mid-winter Norman Kaye Tudor Choristers 4:01
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18 O little town of Bethlehem Tudor Choristers 4:25
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19 Postlude Norman Kaye Our Lady of Victories' Church 1:40
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20 Preludium John Bull St Patrick's Cathedral 1:03
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21 In Nomine Richard Alwood St Patrick's Cathedral 1:36
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22 A Duo Richard Farnaby St Patrick's Cathedral 1:44
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23 Praeludium Giles Farnaby St Patrick's Cathedral :56
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24 Improvisation, 1989 Norman Kaye Trinity College Chapel 1:42
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25 Three fanfares Norman Kaye St Patrick's Cathedral 1:37
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26 Chant de Paix, 1945 Jean Langlais Trinity College Chapel 3:45
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27 Extemporisation Alfred Ernest Floyd Trinity College Chapel 3:49
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28 Comment on improvising :31
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29 Improvisation, 1997 Norman Kaye Trinity College Chapel 5:13
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30 Lonely Hearts Norman Kaye 1:56
Move Records has gathered thirty tracks for this CD which pays tribute to the remarkable Norman Kaye. The main focus is the musician and organist, without forgetting his acting career. Norman was born on 17 January 1927 and died on 28 May 2007.
He was not only a well known and highly regarded actor, winning the 1983 AFI Best Actor award, but also an exceptional organist. Having studied under Melbourne’s legendary Dr A. E. Floyd, he went on to study with Pierre Cochereau, organist of Notre Dame de Paris.
The recording draws on a wide variety of historical sources, from a recital on the Melbourne Town Hall organ (with an introduction by Dr Floyd himself) through to 1997, when he gave the final recital on the J. E. Dodd organ which until that year stood in the Trinity College Chapel, Melbourne. It includes compositions by Norman, examples of him as accompanist, and several excellent improvisations.
Produced to celebrate his life, the disc is also a chance to hear several of Melbourne’s organs that have since been lost or dramatically altered: the Melbourne Town Hall organ in its original 1929 form (before the great enlargement of 1999–2000), the Caulfield Grammar Memorial Hall organ (destroyed by fire in 2000), and Scotch College’s Littlejohn Chapel organ, removed in 1993 to make way for an electronic instrument.
Reviews
This CD is a welcome tribute to a remarkable Australian
The playing is just fascinating, technically sound and utterly musical as one would expect . . . Warmly recommended
What a remarkable assortment of vignettes from the late lamented doyen of the world of organ accompaniment and improvisation
Artists
Norman Kaye
organ
Norman Kaye (1927–2007) was an Australian organist, composer and actor. Schooled in the French organ tradition, he brought bold colour, humour and improvisatory flair to the console, and is remembered equally for the quiet depth of his screen performances.
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.
Alfred Ernest Floyd
composer
Alfred Ernest Floyd's sacred writing serves the church year and the organ loft: the carol Cold and Dark is Holy Night, Church Preludes for small instruments, and hymnody from Advent through All Saints.
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.
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry
composer
Hubert Parry's music still fills cathedrals and coronations. Best known for the choral song Jerusalem, the coronation anthem I was glad and the hymn tune Repton, his writing joins ceremonial splendour to a humane, singable warmth.
Henry Purcell
composer
Henry Purcell (c. 1659–1695) was an English organist and composer of the middle Baroque. His sacred music, theatre songs, instrumental works and the opera Dido and Aeneas shaped a distinctly English Baroque style.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) was an English composer of nine symphonies, operas, ballets, and a large body of choral and vocal music. Drawing on Tudor polyphony and English folk-song, he helped free British music from its nineteenth-century German models.
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.
Richard Alwood
composer
Henry Baker
composer
John Bull
composer
John Bull (1562/63–1628) was an English composer, organist and virginalist of the late Renaissance. He was a renowned keyboard performer, and most of his surviving music is for the virginal and organ.
Louis-Claude Daquin
composer
Louis-Claude Daquin wrote Baroque and Galant keyboard music built for display: clear textures, brilliant passagework and character pieces that paint a scene. His harpsichord suites and organ Noëls still circulate, above all Le coucou and the Swiss Noël.
Richard Farnaby
composer
Giles Farnaby
composer
Flor Peeters
composer
Christina Rossetti
composer
Christina Rossetti was a nineteenth-century poet whose verse has long been set as song. Her words appear as song texts across several Move recordings.
Percy Whitlock
composer
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Norman Kaye · organ · all except track 2
- Cantus Choro · choir · tracks 14–16
- Tudor Choristers · choir · tracks 17 and 18
- Alfred Ernest Floyd · voice · track 2
- Melbourne Brass Ensemble · ensemble · track 25
Technical credits
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Venue
Archer Memorial organ (track 12)
Canterbury Fellowship (track 9)
Littlejohn Chapel (tracks 6 and 7)
Melbourne Town Hall (tracks 3–5)
Our Lady of Victories' Church (track 19)
St Andrew’s, Brighton (track 13)
St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne (tracks 20–23 and 25)
Trinity College Chapel (tracks 8, 10, 11, 24, 26, 27 and 29)
Details
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 78 minutes 52 seconds
- Release date
- 2007
- Categories
- Australian, Classical, Organ
- Genres
- Organ, Choral & Sacred
- Musical work copyright
- © 2007 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2007 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MD 3316
- EAN
- 9314574331622
More to explore

Psalms
Psalms and chants from the Anglican and Taizé traditions, with two hymns, directed by Peter Chapman. Cantus Choro’s recording shows his love of Anglican psalmody, lively musicianship, and care for phrasing and words.

Songs and Praises
Favourite hymns from the Australian Hymn Book, Vol. 3. Choir and organ fill Trinity College Chapel, Melbourne, with the thrilling sound that hymn lovers know so well.

Hymns For All Seasons
Sixteen further hymns from Cantus Choro, recorded in the grand acoustic of St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne. The programme opens with Advent and follows the great events of the Christian year, with Norman Kaye at the organ and the Melbourne Brass Ensemble.

Sing Out With Joy
Cantus Choro, directed by Peter Chapman, sings seventeen favourite hymns from the Australian Hymn Book. Norman Kaye’s imaginative organ accompaniments give the well-known settings fresh dramatic shape and room for the choir to breathe.

Encores
Directed by Douglas Lawrence, the Australian Chamber Choir gathers favoured concert encores in a programme that shows the ensemble at its most immediate and engaging.

Life and Love
Cameron Roberts plays Johann Sebastian Bach at the piano, joining original keyboard works with his own arrangements and those of Busoni and Lipatti.
