Music: Auden Variations, Op. 136 (1977) - Variation XIII: Risoluto
Composer: Vincent Persichetti
Artists: Tom Winpenny, organ of St Albans Cathedral
Album: Vincent Persichetti: Organ Music (TOCC 0549)
Label: Toccata Classics
SKU/UPC/EAN: 5060113445490
https://toccataclassics.com

The larger part of the organ music of the American composer Vincent Persichetti (1915–87) was composed towards the end of his life, with some of those pieces receiving their first recordings here. Several are based on hymn tunes, which can often be heard in the background – re-emerging in glorious affirmation in the Auden Variations. On occasion the language suggests a kaleidoscopic admixture of Hindemith and Messiaen, bristling with edgy flashes of colour; and Do not go gentle, an essay for pedals alone after the Dylan Thomas poem, is a statement of austere power. What these highly contrasted works have in common is complete textural clarity: Persichetti had been playing the organ since boyhood, and his writing for the instrument is that of a master.

Vincent Persichetti: Organ Music

Variation XIII: Risoluto

Persichetti: Auden Variations, Op. 136 (1977) - Variation XIII: Risoluto

Toccata Classics is a label dedicated to producing recordings of the huge amount of top-notch classical music that the concert halls and major record companies are ignoring.  We make a point of seeking out interesting composers from less familiar musical cultures and from all periods, in the Nordic and Baltic countries, in central and eastern Europe, Russia and further afield.

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