The Orchestral Organ: Jan Kraybill performs arrangements of works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Edward Armas Järnefelt, Emil von Řezníček, Felix Mendelssohn, Giuseppe Verdi, Gustav Holst, Jean Sibelius, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner, Samuel Barber — Reference Recordings SACD-CD (HDCD) Catalog No: RR-145 / Release: 5/17/19 / TT: 63:00
Musical transcriptions are nothing new. Originally written for piano, Ravel transcribed Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition into a popular piece for orchestra, performed far more frequently than the original piano version.
This fine sounding SACD goes the other way, taking orchestral music and turning it into works for Organ. These transcriptions aren’t new. For years, centuries even, popular music has been transcribed, often because there weren’t the resources available for an orchestral performance, but there was always a handy piano or organ.
Organist Jan Kraybill is up to the task of performing these transcriptions. She is a musical leader, performer, educator, organ consultant, and enthusiastic advocate for the power of music to change lives for the better. She is Organ Conservator at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, and Organist-in-Residence at the international headquarters of Community of Christ in Independence, Missouri.
In these roles she plays and oversees the care of three of the Kansas City metro area’s largest pipe organs: the 113-rank Aeolian-Skinner and 102-rank Casavant organs in Community of Christ’s Auditorium and Temple, and the 102-rank Julia Irene Kauffman Casavant at the Kauffman Center’s Helzberg Hall, where The Orchestral Organ was recorded.
I listened to the 5.1 rendering of these tracks and the sound was thrilling. The organ is big and brawny, the performances are precise and committed, and Reference Recording has done their usual audiophile magic. The lower pipes of the organ are very deep, and will test your system, especially if you have a subwoofer.
Track selection is varied, with classical standards and a more contemporary work like the Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. I thought it worked nicely for organ. I also especially enjoyed the Sibelius Finlandia, which was stirring and joyful. Of particular note — this release contains many “first recordings”, as well as the world premier of Řezníček’s Praelusium and Chromatic Fugue.
Musically and technically this disc is worth a listen, and frequent replays.
—Mel Martin
Track List:
Tchaikovsky: Coronation March
Barber: Adagio for Strings
Gounod: Funeral March of a Marionette
Holst: Chaconne, from First Suite for Military Band, Op. 28, No. 1
Sibelius: Finlandia
Řezníček: Praeludium and Chromatic Fugue
Saint-Saëns: Romance, from Orchestral Suite in D, Op. 49
Wagner: Forest Murmurs, from Siegfried
Mendelssohn: Scherzo, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Järnefelt: Praeludium for small orchestra
Verdi: Grand March, from Aïda
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