Mattias Wager Plays the Grand Organ in Stockholm City Hall!
“Hymne a l’univers” is the newest album on Opus 3 Records from acclaimed organist Mattias Wager, whose previous release on Opus 3 Records was the best-selling album entitled "Organ Treasures". Mattias also performed on the previous Opus 3 Records releases "Live at Vattnajökull", and played on a couple of the Erik Westberg choir albums! The Stockholm City Hall is known around the world for housing the Nobel prize banquet. It is also home to the largest organ in Scandinavia. On this spectacular instrument, with its 10,400 pipes, Mattias Wager plays French music from the Thirties. The music, by Alain, Jolivet, Bonnal and Duruflé shows the scope and sheer creativity of its time, and its feeling of boundless musical possibilities. With its wealth of sound, the Stockholm City Hall organ is one of the few instruments that make it possible to really bring out all the colors in this repertoire. Additionally this is the first real recording of this organ, even though it was built in 1926, 3 years after the Stockholm City Hall was opened to the public! Released on Sony’s Stereo SACD format this album has outstanding Sound Quality!
"For this recording, I have put together a programme that could at least give a hint of the diversity of musical expression in the French organ scene of the Thirties. Above all, these are pieces that I really love to play, music that fascinates and challenges me and touches me deeply. I hope you will feel the same."-Mattias Wager
"This CD presents French music of the 1930s on a German romantic Walcker organ restored by the quintessentially English company of Harrison & Harrison. Mattias Wager has made a perceptive choice of venue: concert halls rarely have the acoustics for this sort of music but here the atmosphere is rather compelling - largely due, perhaps, to the organ's placement in the ceiling - and the colours of the instrument sing through the textures with great lucidity. The post-romantic works of Alain (Trois dansa) and the title track by ]olivet work particularly well. Joseph Bonnal's Cloches dansle ciel also has plenty of fire." -Rupert Gough, Rated 5 Stars, Choir & Organ Magazine
Features:
• Super Audio CD
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
Selections:
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Trois Danses:
1. Joies
2. Deuils
3. Luttes
Joseph Ermend Bonnal (1880-1944)
Paysages Euskariens:
4. La Vallee de Béhorléguy, au matin
5. Le Berger de Ahusquy
6. Cloches dans le ciel
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
6. Scherzo op. 2
André Jolivet (1905-1974)
8. Hymme à l’univers
“Hymne a l’univers” is the newest album on Opus 3 Records from acclaimed organist Mattias Wager, whose previous release on Opus 3 Records was the best-selling album entitled "Organ Treasures". Mattias also performed on the previous Opus 3 Records releases "Live at Vattnajökull", and played on a couple of the Erik Westberg choir albums! The Stockholm City Hall is known around the world for housing the Nobel prize banquet. It is also home to the largest organ in Scandinavia. On this spectacular instrument, with its 10,400 pipes, Mattias Wager plays French music from the Thirties. The music, by Alain, Jolivet, Bonnal and Duruflé shows the scope and sheer creativity of its time, and its feeling of boundless musical possibilities. With its wealth of sound, the Stockholm City Hall organ is one of the few instruments that make it possible to really bring out all the colors in this repertoire. Additionally this is the first real recording of this organ, even though it was built in 1926, 3 years after the Stockholm City Hall was opened to the public! Released on Sony’s Stereo SACD format this album has outstanding Sound Quality!
"For this recording, I have put together a programme that could at least give a hint of the diversity of musical expression in the French organ scene of the Thirties. Above all, these are pieces that I really love to play, music that fascinates and challenges me and touches me deeply. I hope you will feel the same."-Mattias Wager
"This CD presents French music of the 1930s on a German romantic Walcker organ restored by the quintessentially English company of Harrison & Harrison. Mattias Wager has made a perceptive choice of venue: concert halls rarely have the acoustics for this sort of music but here the atmosphere is rather compelling - largely due, perhaps, to the organ's placement in the ceiling - and the colours of the instrument sing through the textures with great lucidity. The post-romantic works of Alain (Trois dansa) and the title track by ]olivet work particularly well. Joseph Bonnal's Cloches dansle ciel also has plenty of fire." -Rupert Gough, Rated 5 Stars, Choir & Organ Magazine
Features:
• Super Audio CD
• SACD Stereo SACD Layer
• This Hybrid SACD contains a 'Red Book' Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players!
Selections:
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Trois Danses:
1. Joies
2. Deuils
3. Luttes
Joseph Ermend Bonnal (1880-1944)
Paysages Euskariens:
4. La Vallee de Béhorléguy, au matin
5. Le Berger de Ahusquy
6. Cloches dans le ciel
Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
6. Scherzo op. 2
André Jolivet (1905-1974)
8. Hymme à l’univers
