Jan Lehtola - Organ Recital: Lehtola, Jan: Bach, J.s. / Widor, C.-M. / Re (CD)

Release Date: 01/01/06

For this disc I have chosen some of the finest organ arrangements that won their makers - Oskar Merikanto, Wilhelm Midde

For this disc I have chosen some of the finest organ arrangements that won their makers - Oskar Merikanto, Wilhelm Middelschulte, Max Reger and CharlesMarie Widor - fame both as organists and composers. Proof of the excellence of these arrangements is, to my mind, the skill with which they were crafted and the new perspective on the works they afford. The main thing is not how closely the arrangement keeps to the original but the way in which Bach's composition is filtered through the arranger's personalicy and the scylistic aesthetics of the times. Performed on a 20th century instrument with respect for their style, the Bach arrangements still deserve a place in the modern repertoire. – Lehtola, Jan