E. Power Biggs & Rheinberger: Two Concertos for Organ and Orchestra & A Mini Discourse by E. Power Biggs

This was a real treat as I have not heard this recording since my college days (70's). This music is lyrical, romantic and dynamic; very listenable and short enough to listen to in one sitting. The added notes by EPG are concise and interesting. With brass fanfares and thunderous pedal notes on the mighty Moeller organ in NYC, you will feel like you were there for the recording. The surrounds provide ambiance and an occasional trumpet fanfare from the organ. Considering the age of the original recording, it has no tape hiss and the dynamic range of the music goes from a whisper to a roar without signs of break-up or compression. Bravo, Mr. Biggs, on giving us a an inside ear to a relatively unknown musical genius! Highly recommended!!

I am so excited to see my most favorite recording of all time back in circulation. And it's improved because we get to hear Master organist E Power Biggs talk about the history o organ concertos and the historical importance of Rheinberger's concerti.When this recording first came out in the 70s, I actually wore out 3 LPs. I couldn't get enough of these delightful works.In spite of the long delivery lead time (from England), the wait is well worth it.

This was a favorite recording in my LP collection, and it seems like I've been waiting forever to see it on a CD with remastered sound. Although there have been several subsequent recordings, none has matched these for richness of sound (despite the age of the original) and firmness of rhythm. Highly recommended.

Not what I expected. What’s with the narrated tracks at the end!! Don’t buy this item.

Edward George Power Biggs (1906-77), born in England but permanently emigrated to Boston, actually outlived his more flamboyant American archrival Virgil Fox (1912-80), and Biggs had the wider and more daring repertoire, a scholarly interest in period organs and authentic performance style, and--for collectors in the millennium--the more lasting discography. Both men recorded and rerecorded Bach prolifically, with Biggs branching out to local European organs with personality and related harpsichord revivals. Their Bach repertoire thoroughly covered, Fox essayed the Belgian Joseph Jongen's SYMPHONIE CONCERTANTE (and "heavy organ" light shows), while the soberer Biggs made ongoing discoveries in the organ music of Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Soler and Gabrieli, with Biggs' Rheinberger, Gabrieli (organ) and Joplin (harpsichord) discs crossing over to younger buyers pawing the vinyl bins for rival Fox' heavier-organ popularizations.This short (48 minutes of music) but spectacular audiophile set competed successfully with Fox' showier rock-concert crossovers, the more scholarly Biggs happily rehabilitating the neglected Liechtenstein composer Adolf Rheinberger (1839-1901), a contemporary of Brahms remembered for these organ concerti and sonatas, some fine Christmas choral music and two (unrecorded) operas, two more than Brahms composed. The concerti, in Late Romantic, High German, mode, date from 1884 and 1894, and Biggs plays them with penetrating clarity and rhythmic verve. His instrument is the 95-rank Möller organ at St. George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan, and Biggs is backed by a pickup chamber ensemble led by modernist conductor Maurice Peress (a Duke Ellington specialist).Andrew Kazdin produced these sessions in November 1973, and CBS immediately rolled out an "enhanced" quadraphonic remix edition, with the soloist's little mini-discourse bonus EP as reproduced here (Biggs also wrote the excellent booklet notes). The Dutton Vocalion digital transfer successfully tames the harsher overtones of those CBS vinyls, and in the SACD format this remains a stunning piece of demonstration recordmaking, not least for reviving Rheinberger and for being Biggs' hippest and most resonant organ spectacular. Being an adopted Bostonian, Biggs never sank to Fox' more blatant pseudo-hipster affectations, but E.G.P.B. sounds more energized and relevant in this 1973 classical context than his keyboard frenemy Fox did, with his heavier organ, in those frivolous Bach light shows.

Ho scoperto per puro caso uno dei due concerti per organo e orchestra di Rheinberger, compositore a me sconosciuto. Cercando alternative discografiche ho scelto questa per alcune recensioni online. Sebbene sia del 1973, il riversamento dal master audio originale su SACD ibrido e' oltre le aspettative (con il mio impianto valuto qui la resa audio 2 canali stereo).Per quanto riguarda le opere contenute nel CD sono sorprendenti. Non e' per niente musica di secondo piano: qui c'e' la stessa invenzione musicale che si puo' riscontrare nella molto piu' blasonata Sinfonia con organo di Saint-Saens. La complessita' della parte organistica e' probabilmente superiore a quest'ultima.Altamente raccomandabile, anche se di non facile reperibilita'.

Un ottimo cd sacd, bell incisione, bella. Musica bella esecuzione