I häftet finns
kommentarer till alla symfonierna.
Vidare presenteras kompositören och organisten.
Inspelningarna gjordes ursprungligen av Signum Records
och fick fin kritik. Här är ett par engelska läsövningar:
"sends
shivers down the spine ... Filsell has done both Vierne and discerning
organ-lovers a great service"
(The
Times)
Vierne’s
six organ symphonies have very uneven representation in the catalogues. Most
popular by far is the Third,
with 12 recordings listed, followed by the First and Second (eight each), the
Sixth (seven) and the Fourth
and Fifth (just four each); and for 10 years the only widely available box set
was Ben van Oosten’s (A/97).
In many ways this set was pretty well ideal, the only drawback being his lack of
flair in the big toccata-like
movements (such as the finale of No 1). Now Jeremy Filsell has brought just that
kind of flair and
panache to this set, recorded, interestingly, on the same instrument as
Oosten’s four-disc set.
It sounds quite different, though. The sound engineers have produced an
altogether warmer and more all-embracing sound,
giving the quieter movements (such as the enchanting Menuet of the Fourth
Symphony) plenty of space to
reveal their charms, while handling the monumental pleno in such a way that it
still sends shivers down the spine
without ever becoming overwhelming. The music, too, may be the same but Filsell
seems to have a better
sense of the musical architecture, especially in the later and more remote
symphonies.
As a result I have to say he has convinced me that the relative neglect,
especially of the Fourth Symphony,
is unwarranted; it may not be easy to communicate this music but it can be
done and Filsell does it wonderfully.
Marc Rochester (The
Gramophone - February 2006)