Francesca da Rimini, Symphonic Fantasy after Dante (composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky)
Symphonie Fantastique: Dream of a Witches Sabbath (composed by Hector Berlioz)
1812 Overture (composed by Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky)
The first pipe organ recordings of Josh Perschbacher. His first album "Symphonic Fantasy for Organ" as been re-recorded on the 5 Manual 110 rank C. Zimmer pipe organ at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, GA. An album ... more »of six incredible transcriptions for organ. Every note in the original orchestral scores has been faithfully duplicated in these arrangements for organ. The organ's greatest forte is its ability to be the most powerful and at times the most delicate sounding of all musical instruments. This album shows off that ability with astonishing boldness. After hearing this album, the listener might forget these pieces were not originally written for the organ. This album is without a doubt a thunderous 'pulling out all the stops' epic.« less
The first pipe organ recordings of Josh Perschbacher. His first album "Symphonic Fantasy for Organ" as been re-recorded on the 5 Manual 110 rank C. Zimmer pipe organ at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, GA. An album of six incredible transcriptions for organ. Every note in the original orchestral scores has been faithfully duplicated in these arrangements for organ. The organ's greatest forte is its ability to be the most powerful and at times the most delicate sounding of all musical instruments. This album shows off that ability with astonishing boldness. After hearing this album, the listener might forget these pieces were not originally written for the organ. This album is without a doubt a thunderous 'pulling out all the stops' epic.
"This is one of the CD's of organ transcriptions in which the arrangements are as good as the originals (of not better). It's like a realized "what if" the composer wrote these pieces for the organ and found somebody good enough the play them like an orchestra. Indeed the artist, Josh Perschbacher, is presenting himself here as a definitive musician. His musical interpretations are solid, and is use of tone painting with the organ is one of the most stunning things I've heard.
The organ used here seems like a very capable instrument. It sounds as if to be 100+ ranks in a lively acoustical space. The lower registers of the organ are very rich and at the appropriate times the reeds have a definite roaring quality, like a lion behind the pipes. The sound from the upper registers have a distinctive bite to sound; pleasingly right of center between bland and harsh.
There are many CD's of organ transcriptions available on amazon.com. This `Premiere' CD lives up to its name, and puts all others to shame. The product description above identifies this CD as a "thunderous, pulling out all the stops epic." This is a understatement. It's much much more.
"
WOW
Posaune | 12/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What a CD! Every track is wonderful, but my fav is the Imperial March. Why wasn't it written for organ in the first place?"
Interesting
Gerald N. Meredith | 11/23/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This artistry here is very good. The record quality is very poor. There is a lot of background noise that is very distracting. 4 stars for the artistry."
A+
The Dr. of Who | 12/23/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Josh Perschbacher is a truly gifted musician for being able to do what he does with the organ. I find it incredibly ironic that the organ being one of the oldest (and in some ways arcane) of instruments is finding new life now being one of the most technologically advanced, and Mr. Perschbacher is taking full advantage of it by playing music that is literally impossible to play under conventional means, and doing it with style and flair!
There are a few audio artifacts here and there and the room appeared to be a little noisy, but this is a very minor issue for me.
In all, a great CD and I think a tremendous step forward for the organ.
Track Listings (6) - Disc #1
