Review by gonzostick September 16, 2009 (6 of 7 found this review helpful)
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If you like the sound of a pipe organ and like to bathe in its sonorities, this disc is for you. George Bernard Shaw used to say the only things worth hearing on a pipe organ were Bach and Wagner. There is no Bach here, but the Wagner Ring excerpts played here are done very well, with the exception of a slightly-too-fast Funeral March from Twilight of the Gods.
The recording is actually of TWO organs, one in front and one in back of a church with resonant acoustics, one by Kleuker, the other by Cavaille-Coll. Both instruments are interconnected electrically and also can be controlled by midi controllers which allow the two organists to overlay performances in order to cover, with four hands and four feet, what an orchestra plays in these dense scores.
The bass response on this disc will rattle and buzz every loose object close to your listening area. Right from the start, the 32-foot bass pedals are evident in the Rheingold opening and, over my matching tower speakers, which are flat to 10Hz, the bass response all around the room, with the .1 subwooofer, is nothing short of phenomenal.
One caution, there is much slow music here. The colors of a pipe organ playing this music are somewhat muted, compared to a symphony orchestra, but this is an excellent recital, recorded beautifully. It is a pity that CBS/SONY abandoned SACD and has not given us other quadro organ discs from their SQ quadraphonic days, like the Bach Four Toccatas disc at Freiburg Cathedral. That is still one of the best of the SACD surround discs.
Great disc with unusual repertoire played and recorded very well.
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