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| Label Signum Classics |
UPC 0635212059623 |
Catalogue number SIGCD 596 |
Release date 09 August 2019 |
Charles-Marie Widor was born to the organ. Raised in a family of organ-makers, he showed early talent for the instrument and would later come to embody all its might and splendour.
His life heavily intertwined with that of the great French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, this new collection of Widor’s complete organ works brings together eight years’ worth of recordings; captured across France on period Cavaillé-Coll instruments. Performed by Joseph Nolan, this celebrated cycle saw him visit St Sernin, Toulouse, St. François-de Sales, Lyon and La Madeleine, Paris.
British-Australian organist and choral conductor Dr Joseph Nolan has been hailed by ABC Classic FM as ‘an extraordinary musician’, by BBC Radio 3 Record Review for ‘his miraculous playing', by Limelight Magazine as ‘a Colossus’ and by Gramophone for his ‘towering technique, vivid virtuosity and inspired interpretive insight’.
Twice nominated for Artist of the Year in 2016 and 2018, Limelight Magazine awarded Joseph its coveted Recording of the Month for his ninth disc for Signum Records from St Etienne du Mont, Paris, the church and organ of Maurice Duruflé. This is the first time in the history of the magazine that an organ disc has been awarded this distinction. Limelight Magazine has also recently awarded Joseph an unprecedented third Editor’s Choice for his tenth disc for Signum Records from St Bavo Haarlem.
Joseph studied at the Royal College of Music, London, winning the Canon Bark Prize for most promising organ student, and was awarded First Class Honours for his final recital at the Temple Church, London. Scholarships from the Countess of Munster Trust, Hattori Foundation and the Royal Philharmonic Society supported his advanced studies with legendary organists Marie-Claire Alain in Paris and Dame Gillian Weir in London.
Appointed to Her Majesty’s Chapels Royal, St James’s Palace, in 2004, Joseph performed on numerous occasions at Buckingham Palace, most notably giving the opening concert of the refurbished Grand Ballroom organ to a distinguished audience.
Joseph has played in concerts across the globe and made his solo debut at Sydney Opera House in the 2017 Sydney Symphony Orchestra Season to great critical acclaim. July 2019 will see Joseph return to Sydney Opera House, making another debut, as soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under their chief conductor, David Robertson. Joseph has also performed as a concerto soloist with the Malaysian Symphony Orchestra at Petronas Concert Hall, Kuala Lumpur, and with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at Perth Concert Hall.
Joseph’s interpretations of the complete works of Charles-Marie Widor for Signum Records — winner of Gramophone’s 2017 ‘Label of the Year’ award — have firmly cemented his international reputation, with both Gramophone and The Australian describing the discs as ‘utterly authoritative’, Music Web International as ‘The Widor cycle of the decade’, BBC Music Magazine as ‘swashbuckling’, and Limelight Magazine as ‘Monumental’.
The Nolan/Signum Widor cycle features the finest Cavaillé-Coll organs in France, including those of La Madeleine in Paris, St Sernin in Toulouse and St François de Sales, Lyon. The discs have been awarded multiple five-star reviews and Editor’s Choice awards in BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone and Limelight Magazine. They have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and ABC Classic FM amongst many others. Joseph’s career has also been the subject of substantial interviews on Radio National (Australia) and in Gramophone, Choir and Organ, The Organ and The Australian.
Very notably, Gramophone magazine awarded the final disc in the Widor cycle a Critic’s Choice for 2017, and in May 2019 awarded Joseph's complete Widor cycle benchmark status as ‘the current yardstick for all Widor recordings’.
Gramophone recently hailed Joseph’s tenth disc from St Bavo Haarlem for Signum as a ‘wonderful accomplishment’, with the recording immediately entering the classical charts, a unique achievement for a disc of organ music. BBC Radio 3’s Record Review programme hailed Joseph’s playing on the disc as ‘miraculous and extraordinary’ and Musicweb International named the disk a Recording of the Year 2018, declaring it as ‘possibly the organ disc of the decade’.
Joseph was invited to take up the position of Organist and Master of Music at St George’s Cathedral, Perth, Western Australia in 2008. Under his leadership, the Cathedral music programme has been described as ‘elite’ and ‘world class’ in The Australian and The West Australian newspapers. The Cathedral choirs have regularly performed for ABC Classic FM whilst the Cathedral Consort has performed with the Hilliard Ensemble, the Academy of Ancient Music and The King's Singers.
In April 2019, Joseph conducted the West Australian Symphony Orchestra with the St George’s Cathedral Consort in a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. The performance was broadcast live on ABC Classic FM, garnering rave reviews in The Australian and The West Australian newspapers. Limelight Magazine hailed the performance as ‘one of the most technically and musically satisfying performances ever heard’.
Joseph has also collaborated in concert with some of the world’s finest trumpeters, including Alison Balsom, Crispian Steele-Perkins and David Elton, Principal Trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Joseph was made a Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for services to French music in 2016 and became an Honorary Fellow of the University of Western Australia in 2013. The University awarded Joseph its prestigious higher doctorate, the Doctor of Letters, in 2018.
Joseph will be returning to the famous church of La Madeleine, Paris, to record the complete organ works of Charles-Valentin Alkan for Signum Records in June 2020
His father was organist in the St-François-de-Sales church and his grandfather was a builder of organs for the Callinet firm, and so the young Charles-Marie received organ lessons from an early age. He did so well that at the age of 11, he could already replace his father at the church organ. In 1863, he moved to Brussels to study with Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens at the request of the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Widor moved to Paris in 1870, where he became the titular organist of the Saint-Sulpice, again aided by Cavaillé-Coll, who built the organ, and requested Widor for a trial period; a trial period which ended up lastig 64 years. Widor succeeded Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély, who died earlier.
With this new state-of-the-art organ, Widor thought it called for a new kind of organ music, and so he invented the so-called organ symphony. He wrote ten of them, of which the last two were called the "Gothic" and the "Roman" symphonies. He made particular clever use of Gregorian theme's to give them a religious character. With his symphonies, he drove both the organist and the organ to its furthest corners. And as a renowned musician, he also attracted a group of followers. Being a teacher himself, he was more than happy to transfer his skills and knowledge. His most famous students are Louis Vierne, Charles Tournemire, Henri Mulet, and Marcel Dupré. The last of whom succeeded him at the Saint-Sulpice.
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