New Classics/United Kingdom
This double-CD from Gothic features Todd Wilson playing the Murray M. Harris Organ (1911) of Saint James-in-the-City, Los Angeles. Todd Wilson is head of the Organ Department at The Cleveland Institute of Music, Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, and Curator of the E.M. Skinner organ at Cleveland’s Severance Hall. He graduated as Master of Music at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, where he studied organ with Wayne Fisher. Further coaching in organ repertoire was with Russell Saunders at The Eastman School of Music. He has won numerous competitions, including the French Grand Prix de Chartres and the Fort Wayne Competition. This new recording highlights a significant organ by Harris, known as ‘the Father of Organ building in the West.’ Other important organs by Harris include his instrument at Stanford Memorial Church, and the core of the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ in Philadelphia. In storage for many years, the 1911 Harris organ at Saint James in-the-City, was restored and rebuilt by Manuel Rosales and this album celebrates the 25th anniversary of its installation at Saint James.

Todd Wilson demonstrates the organ’s exceptional range of colours and dynamics in a a program that includes two majestic Widor Symphonies, Reubke’s virtuosic Sonata, Franck’s gorgeous Chorale in E Major, and settings of hymns and plainsong themes, including Gerre Hancock’s arrangement of the beautiful Welsh song Ar Hyd y Nos (‘All Through the Night’). His refined and expressive performances are captured in a superb high-resolution recording, which ranges from the organ’s most powerful sonorities to its most delicate pianissimos. The recording also captures the warm and enveloping acoustics of Saint James – an essential part of how the organ is experienced there. ‘The people of Southern California have been enriched by a cultural and artistic treasure: a voice rescued from oblivion, and today sounding with restored grandeur for many generations to come.’ – J. Buonemani, Organist & Director of Music for Saint James in-the-City. This recording is available on CD or as digital downloads on the Gothic Website – where you can also view the the full-color booklet – or wherever in the world you purchase your music.