COMPOSERS: Liszt/Schumann
LABELS: ASV Quicksilva
WORKS: Fantasia and Fugue ‘Ad nos, ad salutarem undam’; Prelude and Fugue on BACH; Variations on ‘Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen’; Four Sketches, Op. 58
PERFORMER: Jennifer Bate (organ)
CATALOGUE NO: CD QS 6127 ADD (1977/78)
Liszt is given the full-blown English treatment on this mid-Seventies recording, made on the asthmatic and rather out-of-tune Willis organ of the Royal Albert Hall. Bate exploits its kaleidoscopic tonal resources to full effect, but perhaps to the point of over-fussiness in the ‘Ad Nos’. The ‘BACH’ Prelude and Fugue comes off better.
The Schumann sketches lie uncomfortably in this ambience, and are not helped by some heavy-handedness from Bate. Stephen Haylett