"Quinney's technique is impeccable and his registration spot
on"
BBC Music Choice
"This is a great recording - I've no hesitation in saying it's
one of the best organ CDs you'll ever hear"
The Gramophone
"His supreme artistry at the organ of Westminster Cathedral transcends the boundaries of organ-playing, giving the listener a moving, magical experience"
Gramophone
The Times, Aprl 2006
Three and a half years in the making, Path of Miracles is a choral cycle structured around the renowned pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain - a more serious endeavour than the film soundtracks and pop arrangements for Paul McCartney and the Divine Comedy that Talbot has become known for.
Incorporating traditions of vocal music from medieval France, Renaissance Italy and even Taiwan, the four movements here are named after pilgrim staging posts and chronicle a valedictory, adverse and penitent journey for more than an hour.
Quotes in various archaic languages from medieval sources are woven in with contemporary poetry by Robert Dickinson. The textures created by the mixed ensemble Tenebrae make this an evocative odyssey, though like the pilgrimage itself, it requires a great deal of contemplative stamina.
David Rose
BBC Music Choice, December 2006 Performance: ***** Sound: *****
It's not just the performer who is versatile here - Westminster
Cathedral's mighty four-manual Willis III organ built between 1922 and
1932, can apparently do just about everything. Considered Willis's grand
masterpiece, it's a sort of cross between the best of the 19th-century
French symphonic movement (typified by the organ builder Cavaillé-Coll)
and the British 'town hall' instrument of the period built for grand
occasions - and orchestral transcriptions.
So Robert Quinney's choice of programme is tailor-made for the
Westminster organ: disc one shows off its 'town hall' side with grand
arrangements of Brahms by Lemare and Lionel Rogg plus some effective
Wagner - also arranged by Lemare. As Quinney writes in his own notes, the Meistersinger
Prelude seems almost to have been written specially for the organ. And
its power is almost paralysing; so, too, however, is the beauty of the
organ's more intimate moments. Disc two is given over entirely to the
music of Marcel Dupré, who advised on the Cathedral organ's design and
whose music combines 19th-century French harmonic colour and texture, a
20th-century biting edge and sophisticated counterpoint.
Quinney's playing has an effective straightness and unshowiness from
the sonic avalanche of the B major prelude and fugue to the multi layered,
sweet toned, poignant Cortége et Litanie. The music - and the
building - needs an unfussy approach; Quinney's technique is impeccable
and his registration spot on, achieving some magical, ethereal effects in
the softer moments of the Variations sur un Noël. Recording organs
of this size within echoey spaces is a tricky business but I'm delighted
to say that the record company Signum serves Quinney excellently; we get a
sense of the performer's articulation, dexterity and smooth pedal work
without missing out on the grand scale of both the instrument and the
building. Bravo to all concerned - it's spine-tingling stuff.
Oliver Condy
The Gramophone, February 2007
Editors
Choice
Smiles, tears and breathless excitement
- now that's what makes a great record
This is a great
recording - I've no hesitation in saying it's one of the best organ CDs
you'll ever hear. Robert Quinney has devised an ingenious programme of
transcriptions and original works which are well suited to Westminster
Cathedral's charismatic four-manual 78-stops Willis organ. This majestic
instrument has a vast wealth of orchestral colours which are fully
exploited by Quinney in his splendid performances of Brahms and Wagner. He
produces rapid, smooth and seamless changes of tone and dynamics - a
phenomenal achievement - and despite the complexity of the scores
everything is heard with utmost clarity.
Quinney's
performances of Dupré are equally fine and two aspects of his
interpretations are worth noting. First, he'll use different stops to what
Dupré prescribes for greater impact; and, second, he'll occasionally play
faster and very often play slower than the printed metronome markings. All
this results in some of the best playing Dupré playing on disc.
Alongside
his impeccable performances, Quinney's greatest achievement is to produce
music-making which really communicates itself to the listener. The quieter
moments of Brahms and Wagner are magical while Quinney's account of the
Die Meistersinger prelude is as joyful and as thrilling as any orchestral
version. In contrast the anguish and passion of Dupré's Evocation brought
tears to my eyes; the playful fairground-like Noël Variations had me
smiling broadly; and the dazzling virtuosity of the Preludes and Fugues
left me breathless with excitement. Let me say again: this is a truly
great recording.
Christopher Nickol
The Gramophone, December 2007
There's no doubt that Robert Quinney's suberb CD will be my Christmas present. His supreme artistry at the organ of Westminster Cathedral transcends the boundaries of organ-playing, giving the listener a moving, magical experience.
