Metamorphoses For A Cavaillé-Coll Organ – Sophie Retaux

   in Choir & Organ (Sep, 2018)
It’s a brave organist indeed who transcribes and performs Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade for organ. Sophie Rétaux’s fearless explorations of Russian repertoire, performed on ‘her’ Cavaillé-Coll at Saint-Omer, reveal an ingenious feeling for colour. But I remain stubbornly unconvinced that Rimsky-Korsakov’s famous violin solo really translates well to being played on a French Cromorne, no matter how beautiful, or that the visceral intimacy of the Shostakovich survives its translation to the vast space of a Gothic Cathedral and the ever-changing soundworld of this great organ (there’s more than a hint of Guillou in some of the registrations). Too much is changed, too much of the music’s essence fundamentally …