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Christmas Bells: Organ Music from Belfast Cathedral

10/29/2021, 32 Tracks, 1:18:29

Featuring

  • Matthew Owens
  • Johann Sebastian Bach
  • Alexandre Guilmant
  • Philip Moore
  • Louis-Claude Daquin
  • Johann Gottfried Walther
  • Flor Peeters
  • Philip Wilby
  • Gary Davison
  • Franz Liszt
  • Howard Skempton
  • Garth Edmundson

Did you know?

1/7

Recording & Production

The album is dedicated to the memory of David McElderry, a Northern Irish organ builder who restored the organ at The Portico of Ards and looked after the Belfast Cathedral organ.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

The 'Portico Preludes' are new organ pieces based on hymn tunes, commissioned by The Portico of Ards arts centre in Northern Ireland with funding from the Arts Council.

Source: Booklet

Performer Biography

Matthew Owens, the organist on this album, became Director of Music at Belfast Cathedral in September 2019, leading the professional adult choir.

Source: Booklet

Performer Biography

Matthew Owens founded the Ulster Consort in 2019, a new professional vocal and instrumental ensemble for Northern Ireland, for which he is artistic director and conductor.

Source: Booklet

Instruments

The organ used for this recording is the Harrison & Harrison Organ of Belfast Cathedral, originally from 1907 and revised in 1975.

Source: Booklet

Recording & Production

Two pieces on this album, Gary Davison's Seven Versets on Divinum Mysterium and Howard Skempton's Christmas Bells, were composed specifically for this recording and dedicated to Matthew Owens.

Source: Booklet

Performer Biography

Under Matthew Owens' leadership, the Wells Cathedral Choir was named by an international jury for Gramophone as the best choir in the world with children.

Source: Booklet

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