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1 CD
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€ 19.95
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| Label Signum Classics |
UPC 0635212054628 |
Catalogue number SIGCD 546 |
Release date 07 September 2018 |
Een buitengewoon musicus
De Brits-Australische organist en koordirigent Joseph Nolan wordt alom geprezen. ABC Classic FM noemt hem “een buitengewoon musicus”, BBC Radio 3 Record Review vindt hem "geweldig" en Gramophone ziet Nolan als “scherpzinnig en intens muzikaal”. Voor zijn album Midnight at St Etienne du Mont, opgenomen in de kerk en op het orgel van Maurice Duruflé, bekroonde ook Limelight Magazine Joseph Nolan, en wel met hun begeerde ‘Recording of the Month’. Het was de eerste keer in de geschiedenis van het tijdschrift dat deze onderscheiding werd uitgereikt aan een orgelalbum.APRA award-winning British Australian organist, Joseph Nolan, has been described by ABC Radio National as “one of the great organists of our time” and by Limelight (Australia) as “indisputably one of the world’s finest organists.” Critics have consistently praised Nolan’s artistry, with BBC Radio 3 Record Review admiring his “miraculous playing,” and Gramophone Magazine (UK) commenting “Joseph Nolan cannot be matched for his towering technique, vivid virtuosity, and inspired interpretive insight”.
In a review of the Nolan/Signum disk-Midnight at St Etienne Du Mont, Paris-American Music Magazine, Fanfare, writes “Joseph Nolan has attracted widespread attention as the Australian counterpart of Cameron Carpenter….displaying jaw-dropping virtuosity, with both finger-work and footwork that leave one astonished at his dexterity.”
Renowned for his interpretations of Widor’s complete organ works for Signum Classics, Nolan’s recordings have been acclaimed by Gramophone Magazine as “the current yardstick for all Widor recordings”. Musicweb International describes the Widor cycle as “the benchmark set”, while Classicalsource heralded the release as “a landmark”, awarding it five stars and Editor’s Choice. In a comparative review of the Widor symphonies featuring some of the most illustrious figures past and present in the organ world, The New Criterion, New York, remarked, “The Nolan set in particular is very fine”.
The cycle has won two Gramophone Critics’ Choice awards and garnered a wealth of five-star reviews from respected publications including BBC Music Magazine, The Criterion (New York), MusicWeb International, and ClassicalSource. Nolan’s recordings have a global reach, broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Pipedreams USA, Radio France, Radio Sweden, and ABC Classic. Notably, Nolan’s recording of Widor’s Symphony No. 5 at La Madeleine in Paris was named Apple Classical’s Editor’s Choice, chosen over 169 other entries.
As an exclusive artist with Signum Classics—a winner of Gramophone Magazine’s Label of the Year—Nolan’s discography features some of the world’s most revered organs in iconic venues such as St Sulpice, La Madeleine, and St Etienne du Mont in Paris; St Sernin, Toulouse; St François de Sales, Lyon; St Bavo, Haarlem; St Ouen, Rouen; Buckingham Palace, London; and Eglisé St Martin, Dudelange, Luxembourg.
Limelight Magazine has awarded Joseph recordings three Editor’s Choice awards. Joseph is also the first-and only organist-to have been awarded Limelight’s coveted Recording of the Month for his disk entitled-Midnight at St Etienne du Mont-the Parisian ecclesiastical home of Maurice Duruflé. Musicweb International selected Joseph’s recording of German Romantic repertoire from St Bavo Haarlem as a Recording of the Year with legendary critic, Marc Rochester, hailing the recording as ‘The Organ Disc of the Decade”.
In January, 2025, Joseph completed the significant challenge of recording the complete organ works of Charles-Valentin Alkan during an intense four-night session at Eglisé St Martin in Dudelange, Luxembourg. The inaugural volume of the Alkan cycle is set for release by Signum Classics in March 2026.
Nolan is also highly sought after as a soloist with major orchestras. His Sydney Opera House debut with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, joined by renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham and conductor David Robertson, drew accolades from Limelight, The Sydney Morning Herald, and ArtsHub, who declared “Nolan has an unequivocally fine ear for French repertoire…..I have never heard the Sydney Opera House organ sounding better.”
In 2024, Nolan made his debut as a featured artist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performing in the world premiere of Mary Finsterer’s Stabat Mater at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne. This performance subsequently won Performance of the Year and Work of the Year at the 2024 Arts (APRA) awards in Melbourne.
Joseph has appeared as concerto soloist with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at St Peter’s Cathedral, Canberra Symphony Orchestra at Llewellyn Hall, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas, Queensland Symphony Orchestra at QPAC, West Australian Symphony Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, where he performed with Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero and conductor Alexander Shelley on a national tour.
Most recently, Nolan made a highly successful debut as a featured soloist in the 2025/2026 Singapore Symphony Season at Victoria Hall in October 2025.
Joseph’s formative years were shaped at The Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with Professor Richard Popplewell, won the Canon Bark prize for most promising organ student, graduated with First Class Honours for his BMus recital at Temple Church, and pursued postgraduate studies with Marie Claire Alain in Paris, supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Hattori Foundation.
Following being appointed to Her Majesty’s Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in 2004, Joseph also performed at Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, including giving the inaugural concert celebrating the refurbishment of the Grand Ballroom Organ in Buckingham Palace. Joseph holds the honour of being the first organist to release a commercial recording of the Grand Ballroom Organ at Buckingham Palace for Signum Classics.
In 2008, Nolan was recruited as Master of Music at St George’s Cathedral in Perth, Western Australia, by the Dean of the Cathedral, Dr John Shepherd (now Dean Emeritus). Nolan was entrusted with the ambitious task of cultivating a world-class Cathedral music program while continuing his international performance and recording career. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Perth, Nolan established the Cathedral Consort and St George’s Cathedral Concert Series, building up choral standards that enabled Nolan to lead the St George’s Cathedral Consort in works such as Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall in 2019, broadcast live on ABC Classic.
Nolan has also led the Cathedral Consort in many Australian and West Australian premieres such as Monteverdi Vesper’s with period instruments, Pachelbel’s Vespers, and Alexander Levine’s The Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom.
Christopher Martin Jenkins, the legendary cricket commentator for BBC Radio’s Test Match Special, and chief cricket correspondent for The Daily Telegraph and the The Times, wrote in his autobiography “A Cricketing Life”—”The present musical director, the organ recitalist, Joseph Nolan, has raised standards to exquisite levels and made it more easily possible for the fortunate congregations in a faraway city to experience that sense of the infinite that is the essence of faith”.
Under Nolan’s leadership, the Cathedral Consort has performed at the Perth Festival, for Musica Viva, and collaborated with UK groups, The Hilliard Ensemble, The Academy of Ancient Music, and The King’s Singers. Gloria, a collaboration with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, St George’s Cathedral Consort, and contemporary dance group Co3, conducted by Nolan, received unanimous five-star reviews and won the 2023 Australian Performing Arts Mainstage award.
In April 2024, Nolan conducted a concert version of Gloria—this time featuring Vivaldi’s Gloria and Handel’s Dixit Dominus—at Perth Concert Hall, a performance voted as one of Australia’s top ten concerts of 2024 by Limelight. Nolan has also conducted the West Australian premiere of Mary Finsterer’s Stabat Mater, with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and St George’s Cathedral Consort at Winthrop Hall, UWA, in April 2025. Limelight awarded the concert five stars writing Nolan led “an extraordinary performance of an extraordinary work.” The concert was broadcast by ABC Classic in May 2025.
In recognition of Nolan’s significant contribution to French music, The Government of France honoured Joseph Nolan with the medal of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2016. The University of Western Australia awarded Nolan the prestigious higher doctorate, the Doctor of Letters, in 2018. His career has been featured in major interviews and articles on ABC Radio National (Australia), Gramophone, Choir and Organ, The Organ, The Age (Sydney), Classical Music, and The Australian.
In January 2026, Nolan will record a commercial album for Signum Classics at the world-famous Berliner Dom, home to the renowned 1905 Sauer Organ. Future engagements will see Joseph Nolan make his debut as conductor with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra at the New Zealand Festival in Wellington and return as a featured soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in four concerts at Melbourne Town Hall.
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period.
Mendelssohn is often compared to Mozart. Both of them were child prodigies, both had a talented sister and they both died at a young age. Mendelssohn, who as a child also painted wrote poetry, was born in small family which converted to christianity from judaism. As a composer he preferred looking back, rather than forward: his main examples were Bach, Handel and Mozart. It was Mendelssohn who retrieved Bach from oblivion and pushed for a revival of his music, which still lasts today. One century after its premier, Mendelsson performed the St Matthew Passion for the second time ever, in 1829.
Three years, earlier, on his 17th, he had already composed his masterfully overture A midsummer night's dream op. 21, based on Shakespeare's play. Today, it is still considered as one of the absolute masterpieces in all of the orchestra reperoire. His Violin Concerto op. 64 belongs to the most beautiful works of the 19th century as well. During his travels through Europe, he wrote his brilliant Italian Symphony, Scottish Symphony and the overture The Hebrides.
Although Mendelssohn had a prosperous career, his weak physique made him emotionally vulnerable. The death of his favourite sister Fanny became fatal: Mendelssohn died in the same year, at the age of 38.
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and hundreds of cantatas. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.
Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognised as a great composer until a revival of interest in and performances of his music in the first half of the 19th century. He is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.
Among the general public, Dieterich Buxtehude is mostly known due to the admiration Johann Sebastian Bach had for his organ and composing skills, for which Bach traveled to the North German city of Lübeck to stay with him for four months, no less. This says quite something about the quality of Buxtehude's performance, but even more so about the influence it had on Bach and all composers after him. Yet, nowadays Buxtehude's music does not need Bach to survive, as a matter of fact it is extraordinarily beautiful just by itself! Buxtehude was originally Danish, but he spent most of him life in Lübeck. His so-called 'Abendmusik', which was a series of evening concerts outside of the liturgy, grew famous. In the works he wrote for these occasions, his enormous fantasy and creative freedom truly shows. As an organ player, Buxtehude was widely famous. If you would listen to his Organ Preludes, you would quickly know why. Buxtehude manages to combine an unprecedented virtuosity with a large variety of styles and techniques. No wonder Bach traveled all that way to see him!
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