Rachmaninov: Transcriptions And Arrangements For Organ – Filsell

   in Choir & Organ (May, 2015)
Jeremy Filsell has form as a virtuoso pianist, organist and arranger – his stunning CD of Cochereau transcriptions at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral is well remembered, and his earlier recordings include a volume of piano music by Rachmaninoff. Inspired by a long-standing passion for the Symphonic Dances, Filsell has built a programme driven by the ‘heady and compelling mix’ which is Rachmaninoff’s ‘sheer grandeur of line, contrapuntal beauty and callisthenic understanding of keyboard textures. The 88-rank Dobson organ of the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia proves an ideal canvas on which to paint his orchestral pictures – this is a big-boned instrument, its divisions clearly separated, spacially; choruses, mixtures and solo stops speak with …