Commemorating the quatercentenary of Chapel Royal composer Orlando Gibbons's death in 1625, The Choir of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court and The English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble join forces to present a programme that surveys the wide range of Gibbons's output. Featuring the entire Second Service, plus verse & full anthems alongside hymns, fantasias and dance tunes, this recording celebrates not only the composer's legacy but also the continuing historical unity in performance of voices and instruments at the Chapel Royal over several hundred years.

Die Kunst der Fuge (The Art of Fugue) is the fifth album in the Bach series by Jorg Halubek and his ensemble il Gusto Barocco - the think tank for the music baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach. The new recording is led by Jorg Halubek, who plays the historic German Silbermann Organ from 1737. Together with the Early Music ensemble il Gusto Barocco, they present a unique interpretation of the world famous Bach composition "The Art of Fugue".

Ben van Oosten is the superstar of symphonic organ music. His multiple award-winning recordings of almost the entire French Romantic organ repertoire are highly acclaimed worldwide. With this dedication to the German Romantic repertoire with masterpieces spanning from Mendelssohn to Reger, van Oosten takes listeners on a sonorous journey through a century of music history that is inspiring in every way.

This compelling debut album from composer Lucy Walker showcases one of the UK's most exciting emerging voices in choral composition. Written during her residency with St Martin's Voices, the works trace a journey of artistic growth and spiritual depth, from the hopeful intimacy of Today to the shimmering expansiveness of I saw eternity. Walker's music is deeply rooted in the choral tradition, yet distinctly contemporary her harmonic language radiant and text-driven, her textures luminous and finely woven. Under the sensitive direction of Andrew Earis, St Martin's Voices bring remarkable nuance and warmth to these performances, revealing the emotional resonance and craftsmanship in each piece. Whether drawing on plainsong, part-song or contrapuntal dance, Walker's voice is unmistakably her own lyrical, thoughtful, and full of light. This album is both a celebration of collaboration and a moving portrait of a composer whose music speaks with clarity, heart and vision.

Maurice Durufle (1902-1986) was a French composer, organist, and teacher renowned for his meticulous craftsmanship and deeply spiritual music. A student of Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne, Durufle inherited the rich French symphonic organ tradition, which he blended with Gregorian chant and impressionist harmony to create a unique and transcendent style. Durufle's complete organ music is limited in quantity but monumental in quality. His small output includes only six published organ works, yet each piece reveals an extraordinary depth of expression and technical mastery. Chief among them is the Suite, Op.5 (1932), which consists of three movements: Prelude, Sicilienne, and Toccata. The Toccata, while virtuosic and brilliant, is famously considered one of the most difficult in the repertoire and is sometimes omitted in performance due to it's formidable demands. The Prelude, Adagio et Choral varie sur le thème du "Veni Creator", Op.4, exemplifies his affinity for Gregorian chant, a hallmark of his style. The Fugue sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathedrale de Soissons, Op.12, demonstrates Durufle's love for musical architecture and his capacity for blending modern harmonic language with traditional forms. The Meditation, a posthumously published piece, reveals a more intimate and reflective side of his writing, while the Scherzo, Op.2, composed during his student years, shows early signs of his technical prowess and inventive use of the organ's color palette. Durufle's organ works, though few, have become central to the instrument's repertoire. Their combination of liturgical solemnity, compositional rigor, and sensuous beauty ensure that they continue to resonate with performers and audiences alike. They stand as a testament to a perfectionist who preferred quality over quantity, and whose music remains timeless. Played by Roberto Marini at the magnificent Stahlhuth-Jann organ of St Martin, Dudelange, Luxembourg, the specifications of which are included in the booklet. Roberto Marini made an authoritative recording of the complete organ works by Max Reger on 17 CDs, published on Brilliant Classics.

A new and complete survey of the attractive body of cello sonatas which, in his day, helped to make Antonio Caldara a Viennese rival to the fame of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice. Born in Venice as the son of a violinist, Caldara grew up as a chorister at the Basilica di San Marco, and won important posts in Mantua, Rome and Barcelona, as a maestro di capella to royal courts. But it was his move to Vienna during the 1710s which secured his name and his fortune. Becoming Vice-Kapellmeister to the Imperial Court in 1716, Caldara introduced the late Venetian style to Central Europe, and it's influence remained a determining factor in both church music and opera as well as instrumental music until long after his death in 1736. Through sacred works such as the oratorio Maddalena al piedi di Cristo, Caldara has won a following on record in the modern era. However, his surviving output of instrumental music has remained largely unexplored. Publishing his Op.1 Trio Sonatas in 1688, Caldara refers to himself as a 'musico di violoncello', and there can be no doubt from this collection that he knew his way around the instrument. They were composed between 22 April and 26 July 1735: Caldara's sheer facility has perhaps told against him, with a total output of over three thousand separate works. But he knew his craft, and melody seems to have come readily to him. A few Lezioni (Nos. 43, 23 & 1) from Caldara's published instruction method for learning the cello are included as preludes to Sonatas Nos. 8, 10 and 12. Most of the sonatas belong to the four-movement 'sonata da chiesa' form, but Caldara also used the three-movement archetype which became increasingly standard. There is no shortage of opportunities for virtuosic display, as well as for lyricism. These recordings are made by musicians immersed in the Italian late-Baroque world. In it's expanded form, L'Arte dell' Arco has made much praised recordings of Haydn and Vivaldi for Brilliant Classics, including a comprehensive box of Vivaldi's Concertos Opp. 1-12. These Italian musicians speak and sing Caldara's music with unforced fluency. - Antonio Caldara (1670-1736), an Italian Baroque composer, was born in Venice, where he was a chorister in the famous San Marco, with Legrenzi as his teacher. He soon spread his wings across Europe and held several important posts in Mantua, the Spanish court in Barcelona, Rome and eventually the post of Kapellmeister at the Imperial Court in Vienna. Caldara left a substantial oeuvre, consisting of instrumental music in the tradition of Corelli, sacred music and operas. - Caldara's sonatas for cello and basso continuo exemplify the transition from the late Baroque style toward the emerging galant aesthetic. These works are clearly written by a master of the instrument, as Caldara evidently was. The sonatas typically follow a four-movement structure, alternating slow and fast tempos, in the tradition of the sonata da chiesa. They blend lyrical, cantabile lines with virtuosic passages, showing the cello's agility and warm tone. - Played by one of Italy's foremost "Early Music" cellists, Francesco Galligioni, playing with fellow members of the ensemble L'Arte dell'Arco. He successfully recorded the complete cello concertos by Vivaldi, works by Dall'Abaco, sonatas by Lanzetti and others.

Giovanni Paolo Cima (1570-1630) was an Italian composer, organist, and violinist active during the transition from the Renaissance to the early Baroque period. He served as the music director at the church of Santa Maria presso San Celso in Milan, where he played a significant role in shaping the musical life of the city. Cima was part of a generation of Northern Italian composers who began experimenting with the emerging stylistic innovations of the early 17th century, particularly in instrumental music. One of his most important contributions is the collection Ricercari e canzoni alle francese, published in 1606. This work stands out as one of the earliest Italian publications to feature works for solo instruments with continuo, marking a significant development in the evolution of the Baroque sonata. The collection includes a variety of instrumental forms, notably ricercari and canzoni, which demonstrate his ability to merge contrapuntal techniques with expressive melodic writing. The ricercari are reflective of the older Renaissance tradition, often built on imitative counterpoint and showcasing Cima's command of structure and thematic development. In contrast, the canzoni are livelier and more sectional, pointing toward the emerging concertato style. These pieces often feature contrasting rhythms and clear melodic phrasing, suggesting the influence of vocal models on instrumental writing. Cima's music reflects both conservatism and innovation. While rooted in Renaissance polyphony, his Ricercari e canzoni anticipate the more dramatic and expressive instrumental music that would dominate the Baroque era. His work helped lay the groundwork for later composers like Dario Castello and Biagio Marini, contributing to the broader shift toward idiomatic instrumental composition and the increasing independence of instrumental genres in early 17th-century Italy. Played by Federico Del Sordo organ and harpsichord (organ: the Meiarini organ (1630), Chiesa S. Maria del Carmine, Brescia, the harpsichord built by Francesco Marini after anon. Italian, early 17th-century. Federico Del Sordo is one of Italy's foremost Early Music musicians and scholars, with an impressive discography to his name.

The Spanish label IBS Classical releases Libro del Frío (Book of Cold), a major work by composer José María Sánchez-Verdú, based on the celebrated poetry collection by Antonio Gamoneda, one of Spain's most influential contemporary poets and winner of the Cervantes Prize. Written for countertenor, organ, orchestra, and five spatialized instrumental groups, Libro del Frío is an immersive sound architecture conceived for the Cathedral of León, where it was premiered in 2008 on the occasion of the 25th International Organ Festival. In this recording, the haunting voice of Carlos Mena finds it's perfect echo in the vast resonances of the sacred space, joined by Óscar Candendo at the organ and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, under the composer's direction. Drawing on the deep musicality of Gamoneda's verse, Sánchez-Verdú creates a unique dialogue between word, space, and sound. His composition unfolds as a seven-part cycle-with interludes and the final organ work Límina-where silence and light become structural elements of the music. The result is an experience that blurs the boundaries between liturgy and abstraction, between human voice and cathedral architecture.

Ireneo Fuser was born in Carbonera (Treviso) on 12 November 1902. In 1925, he graduated in organ at the Liceo musicale «Benedetto Marcello» in Venice under the tuition of Oreste Ravanello and later specialized in Rome with Fernando Germani. In 1927, he graduated in piano at the Conservatory in Parma and, in 1935, in composition at the Conservatory in Florence. In 1928, he won the competition to succeed Ulisse Matthey as organist at the Sanctuary of Loreto, a position he did not hold, however. He undertook a brilliant concert career that was marked by a broad repertoire, refined recording skills, great virtuosity, and musical sensitivity that made him one of the most important Italian organists of his generation. From the 1940s onwards, he has given organ recitals for Swiss radio and RAI in live or recorded Sunday programmes in Rome and Turin, which have been on the broadcast schedules for more than twenty years. At the same time, he carried out teaching activities first at the Licei musicali in Venice and Pescara and then in Bologna, where he was established in 1939 as an organ teacher at the Institute that three years later would become the Conservatorio «G. B. Martini». A firm believer in the phonic excellence of the ancient Italian organ, he shaped his activity with the noble aim of enhancing the glorious period of Italian musical art of the past; among his countless musicological works, the anthology «Classici italiani dell'organo» (1955) is still considered a reference work today.

French organ music from the period of Louis XIV to the Revolution has always held fascination for performers and listeners alike. The kaleidoscope of colours, the rich and varied styles, and the sheer exuberance of the music never fail to captivate. Yet, performance practice of this music has never been fully understood. David Ponsford has spent much of his career studying this repertoire, resulting in his book French Organ Music in the Reign of Louis XIV (Cambridge University Press, 2011). The present series of recordings on the most important historical organs in France is therefore the fruit of many years of research by a seasoned performer whose aim is to combine technical brilliance with intellectual understanding, to bring the music alive with authority and meaning.

This first volume of The Complete Alkan Organ Works presents Joseph Nolan's recording of Charles-Valentin Alkan's major works for organ and pedal-piano, performed on the restored Stahlhuth-Jann organ of St Martin's Church, Dudelange. The release includes the 11 Grands Préludes and Handel transcription Op. 66, the Petits Préludes sur les huit gammes du plainchant, and the Impromptu on Luther's "Ein feste Burg", Op. 69. The booklet outlines Alkan's background, his distinctive position in 19th-century French music, and the technical demands of these rarely recorded pieces. It also documents the instrument's history and Nolan's long-term commitment to the project.

A quartet of German Baroque masters at their most daring and outlandish, exploring the harmonic quirks of mean-tone temperament on the organ. Manuel Tomadin has assembled an impressive library of Baroque-era albums on Brilliant Classics, including critically acclaimed surveys of Bach and comprehensive documents of the surviving output of lesser-known names such as Christian Erbach and Vincent Lubeck. 'A very attractively conceived and well-executed Bach organ recital disc,' noted Fanfare of Manuel Tomadin's diverse recital (95786): 'All recital discs should be this thoughtfully conceived and well done; cordially recommended.' In the same vein, this new recording leads the listener through both unfamiliar and well-known names and works, drawing out the original meaning of the term Baroque as 'the broken pearl' - something strange and exquisite. At a time before the 'even-tempered' system of tuning homogenised the spaces between different intervals - some of them being narrower or wider than others in what is known as 'mean-tone' temperament - composers such as Buxtehude might exploit those idiosyncrasies to produce harmonies which were deliberately awkward or dissonant. Manuel Tomadin has chosen the Praeludium in E BuxWV141, the Praeludium in F sharp minor BuxWV146 and a chorale prelude, Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist BuxWV208, to illustrate this point. The most unfamiliar name here is Johann Heinrich Buttstett (1666-1727) - Capellmeister in the central-German town of Erfurt - who defended conservative theories of musical evolution as a writer and teacher, but also produced works which sound quite radical for their time, such as an extensive Praeludium and Canzona in D minor. JS Bach is represented here by a pair of organ preludes and fugues (BWV534 in F minor and BEV547 in C major) from his Weimar period - relatively early in his career, but no less experimental for that. The search for harmonic extremes was continued by the most radically inventive of his sons, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Manuel Tomadin demonstrates this continuity with the chorale prelude 'Ich ruf zu dir'. A fascinating and unique collection, performed on the authentic and historically significant Hinsz organ of 1738 at the Broederkerk in the Dutch town of Kampen.

The illustrious French organ tradition is celebrated in this album of Toccatas and Meditations, including masterpieces drawn from across the repertoire. Charles-Marie Widor was the founding father of the French Organ School, and his Toccata from Symphony No. 5 is a cornerstone of the organ repertoire. The Meditation by his contemporary Louis Vierne is among the highlights of Romantic organ works. Durufle, Boellmann and Guilmant are also represented, as is a beautiful Ravel arrangement. They're played on the magnificent Grenzing organ at Bauernkirche Iserlohn by Dariia Lytvishko - a Ukrainian-born virtuoso and one of the most lavishly gifted organists of her generation.

Ryan Chan, the First Prize Winner in the 2024 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, is featured on his debut release on the Pro Organo label, entitled "Paris Milieu." His all French program spans 3 centuries, with standard organ literature and virtuosic organ transcriptions, performed upon the new Juget-Sinclair pipe organ in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Richmond, Virginia USA.

The final volume in the historically important collection of rare recordings with the Danish versatile conductor Launy Grøndahl features the opera The Black Spider, an unknown masterpiece by the Swiss conductor Heinrich Sutermeister. In addition to never-before-released broadcast recordings, this volume collects the very first 78RPM recordings made by Grøndahl with his Olympia Orchestra in 1923. All previous volumes, from Volume 1 to this final release, are available.

Jean Langlais was born on February 15, 1907, in La Fontenelle, Brittany, France. He became blind from the age of two. Sent to the Paris National Institute for the Blind Youth in 1918, he studied piano, violin, harmony and organ with great blind teachers (among others Albert Mahaut and Andre Marchal). Later on, he entered the Paris National Conservatory of Music in the Marcel Dupre's organ class, obtaining a First Prize in 1930. In 1931, after studying improvisation with Charles Tournemire, he received the "Grand Prix d'Execution et Improvisation des Amis de l'Orgue". He completed his studies obtaining a Composition Prize in Paul Dukas' class at the Paris Conservatory in 1934. In 1945, he became the successor to Cesar Franck and Charles Tournemire at the prestigious organ tribune of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris. He gave countless concerts worldwide, and was a prolific composer. He died on May 8th, 1991 in Paris. Langlais' distinctive style combined traditional harmonies with contemporary techniques. His compositions often feature intricate organ textures and colourful harmonies, influenced by his background as a church musician. Langlais was also known for his use of modes and complex rhythms, which added to the unique character of his music. His works often have a strong emotional intensity and sense of drama, with frequent shifts in mood and dynamics. This is the third volume of the complete organ works includes sonatas, suites, Noels, the Symphony "Alla Webern", and many miscellaneous shorter works. Played by 3 excellent Italian organists: Giorgio Benati, Fausto Caporali and Alessandro Perin. The extensive booklet includes information on the organs used on this album.

Ahead of the 80th birthday of one of Britain's most singular compositional voices, this double album presents the complete organ works of Michael Finnissy a body of music as rich in intellectual depth as it is in imagination. Performed with careful nuance by acclaimed American organist Forrest Eimold, these works span over six decades and chart the evolution of a composer constantly challenging himself to think beyond presumed forms. At the heart of the collection are Finnissy's four Organ Symphonies: bold, searching works that pay homage to and wrestle with the legacies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, while also evoking the French organ tradition of Vierne and Widor. "Why even write a Symphony?" Finnissy asks in a personal note for this release. "To explore and learn. To challenge oneself with the abiding presence of awe-inspiring history... to locate a rhetoric which fearlessly approaches the 'higher world of knowledge.'" From the youthful drama of ... ere the set of sun...  (written as incidental music for MacBeth in 1965) to the industrial solemnity of Blackburn (2022), the album presents not just a body of work but a kind of inner autobiography. The Hymn-Tune Preludes - transformations of Sacred Harp and Norwegian folk melodies - offer a striking contrast: intimate, harmonically volatile, and unhitched from convention. Even the earliest works here, like the student piece Xunthaeresis, reveal the seeds of a language already driven by risk and complex expression. Forrest Eimold, a formidable interpreter of 20th and 21st century keyboard music, brings dazzling technique and interpretive depth to this music. His command of registration, colour, and pacing allows each piece - from the vast landscapes of the symphonies to the epigrammatic preludes - to speak with clarity and conviction. Recorded on a range of instruments, including the organ of the UK's Blackburn Cathedral, this is a release release which anchors Finnissy's contribution to the organ repertoire as one of bold imagination and philosophical depth. It also continues Metier's retrospective celebrations for Finnissy's 80th year, with further releases to follow.

In January 2026 The Elgar Society marks it's 75th anniversary, and SOMM Recordings celebrates the event with several Elgar releases in gratitude for the society's generous support and encouragement from 1998 to the present day. Light Out of Darkness, Choral Music by Elgar was recorded in February 2025, with the support of The Elgar Society, and continues the inspired journey of the composer's musical development in a series of widely acclaimed releases by SOMM. This present release includes five world-premiere recordings. Light Out of Darkness features the Chapel Choir Of The Royal Hospital Chelsea conducted by their Music Director, the multiple prize-winning conductor and pianist William Vann. This follows their hugely successful first recording of Elgar's choral works for SOMM, The Reeds by Severn Side [SOMMCD 0278]. The featured organist is Callum Knox, an emerging talent from Australia. Edward Elgar (1857-1934) had an unorthodox musical education that turned out to be a fertile training ground for his evolution into one of the most important composers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He "learned on the job," so to speak, studying scores and instruction manuals in his father's music shop; assisting his father who played the organ at Worcester's St George's Church; and graduating to organist for St George's in 1885. From these early years come world-premiere recordings of the hymn Praise ye the Lord, 1878, and the first of Elgar's seven settings of Thomas Aquinas's O Salutaris Hostia composed c.1877. Two later versions-from c.1880 (dedicated "To my father - with affection") and 1882-are also included here. This last is another world-premiere recording, as is Elgar's a cappella setting of the Stabat Mater from 1886. In 1888, now aged 31, Elgar composed the dignified Ecce sacerdos magnus (Behold a great priest) for a visit to St. George's by the newly installed Bishop of Birmingham. This release includes three anthems extracted from Elgar's oratorios. Light out of darkness and Light of the World, we know Thy praise are taken from his first oratorio, The Light of Life (Lux Christi). The third is The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, the opening chorus from his penultimate oratorio, The Apostles. Elgar's part songs, or "choral songs" as he later preferred to call them, contain some of his greatest music. Amongst the six included here are Byron's Deep in my soul from The Corsair; O wild West Wind! Inspired by Shelley's Ode to the West Wind; and Go, Song of Mine after the Italian 13th century poet, Guido Cavalcanti, translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The programme closes with Elgar's rousing 1902 arrangement of God Save the King, heard here in the version for organ accompaniment.

Divine Art is delighted to present the 16 January 2026 release of Expectations from organist Alexander Ffinch, a musical journey of the seasons featuring original works and arrangements, recorded on the magnificent organ at Cheltenham College. Expectations takes the listener through a journey of the fall, winter feasts and festivals, and highlights the anticipation of opportunities and renewal in the new year. The various colours and choruses of the organ spark the imagination, making a wonderfully visceral listening experience which challenges the expectations of both the organ enthusiast and those new to the world of organ music. In this way, Expectations is a perfect follow-up and partner album to Ffinch's 2024 release Parallels, which featured original works and arrangements alongside music not usually associated with the organ. Ffinch begins our seasonal journey at Halloween with Saint-Saens' spine-chilling Danse Macabre in a transcription by E. H. Lemare. Alexandre Guilmant's powerful Marche Funebre et Chant Seraphique maintains the dark atmosphere, portraying the arrival of a solemn funeral procession. We then look ahead to the Christmas season in a refreshingly colourful new take on the Advent melody Non Komm der Heiden Heiland by the young composer William Mason, intermixed with the exquisitely crafted Air from Brook Green Suite by Gustav Holst and Derek Bourgeois' lighthearted Serenade, which provide a different kind of anticipation, both written for upcoming occasions. Christmas is in full swing with arrangements of the Overture, Russian Dance (Trepak), and Dance of the Reedpipes (des Mirlitons) from Tchaikovsky's festive ballet The Nutcracker, wrapped up together with the dazzlingly inventive Variations sur un Noel by Marcel Dupre, a towering figure of 20th-century organ music. This brings us finally towards the new year with the captivating Epilogue from Fanny Mendelssohn's Das Jahr, a stark yet optimistic depiction of the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. Two works by master organist Marcel Lanquetuit complete the album: the centenary of his famous Toccata comes up in 2027, giving the album an ongoing cyclical feel, and we also hear his lesser-known Intermezzo. Just as Ffinch offered an organ 'surprise' along the lines of Coldplay's "Paradise" on Parallels, he also extends the question of expectations with David Bowie's probing song, "Life on Mars?". The release will also mark the 10th anniversary of David Bowie's death and reminds us, 55 years after it's release, that the journey to find ourselves doesn't end with New Year's Resolutions. In "expectation" of the January release, Divine Art will release digital singles of the seasonal works throughout the end of the year. Alexander Ffinch has established himself as a renowned organist with performances spanning the UK, Europe, USA, and Asia. Notable for his role as the College Organist at Cheltenham College since 2004, Alexander oversees daily organ performances in the College Chapel and accompanies choirs while maintaining an active schedule as a recitalist. He has featured previously in the Cheltenham International Music Festival and on BBC Radio 3 live broadcasts. His recordings have also recently featured on Radio 3 programmes. There are forthcoming recitals at Notre Dame and La Madeleine in Paris as well as regular series appearances in Cheltenham and other concerts in both the UK and USA.

John Stanley was born in London on 17 January 1712. A precocious musician, by the age of nine he was playing the organ (probably as an occasional deputy) at All Hallows, Bread Street. When the titular organist there - the composer and harpsichordist William Babell, a former pupil of Handel - died on 23 September 1723, an eleven year-old Stanley was appointed in his place. At the age of 14 he was chosen as organist at St. Andrew's, Holborn and at the age of 17 became the youngest person ever to obtain the BMus degree from Oxford University. In 1734 he was appointed organist to the Society of the Inner Temple, a position he held until his death. As a musician whose primary responsibilities were liturgical, John Stanley was required to accompany the service music every Sunday, and also to improvise voluntaries at various points in the service. A voluntary was a piece improvised extemporaneously and, prior to the 19th century, in the Church of England there were two principal forms of voluntary. These were a First Voluntary - generally an introduction and a movement or two for solo stops such as the trumpet or cornet - placed between the psalms and the first lesson at Morning and Evening Prayer, and a Second Voluntary - generally an introduction and fugue - at the end of the service. John Stanley's primary responsibility in his sixty-three years as organist at these various churches, was to improvise a voluntary before the first lesson (comprising an introduction and an additional movement or two for the solo stops) and an introduction and fugue at the end of the service. Stanley's improvisations were reportedly so fine that on Sundays none other than Handel himself, who attended St. George's, Hanover Square, would sometimes leave church early and rush over to the Temple Church to hear Stanley's final voluntary. Most voluntaries were never written down as compositions, and very few voluntaries for organ were published in England before Stanley's Op.5 of 1748. But written-out voluntaries did serve two main purposes: first, they were often used for recital purposes, as for example when organists like Stanley played at the dedication of a new instrument; second, they were widely used as exercises for apprentices or organ students, or for church organists new to their roles. Some of the manuscript collections produced for this purpose have survived. One important collection of this kind is the so-called Southgate Manuscript, a collection of 64 voluntaries in the library of the Royal College of Organists in London. This seems to have been compiled around the year 1750 in order to instruct choristers of the Chapel Royal who were learning the organ. This manuscript contains several of the early organ works of John Stanley. - Recorded June 2024 in Rocca Massima, Italy - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Romeo Ciuffa, organ specification with stop list and a profile of the organist - John Stanley (1712-1786) was a prominent English composer, organist, and violinist of the 18th century. Blinded in an accident at the age of two, Stanley displayed prodigious musical talent from an early age. He studied under Maurice Greene and, by age 17, was appointed organist at All Hallows, Bread Street. He later held prestigious posts at the Temple Church and the Chapel Royal, where he succeeded William Boyce as Master of the King's Band of Musicians. - Among Stanley's most celebrated works are his three volumes of Organ Voluntaries, Op.5 through Op.7, published between 1748 and 1754. These voluntaries reflect both the elegance of the late Baroque style and a growing Classical influence. They were designed for performance during Anglican church services, typically as preludes, interludes, or postludes. The voluntaries are structured in multiple short movements and frequently feature contrasting textures, such as lyrical slow introductions followed by lively fugues or trumpet tunes. Stanley made imaginative use of the organ's stop combinations, often specifying solos for trumpet, cornet, or flute stops, adding variety and color. - Played by Pietro Delle Chiaie at the Inzoli-Bonizzi organ of the St Michael Archangel Church, Rocca Massima, Italy. He made a successful recording of the complete organ music by Carl Czerny for Brilliant Classics.