CCMusic.com

The legendary English organist E. Power Biggs became a household name when his Sunday morning CBS broadcasts introduced radio listeners all over North America to the sound of historic pipe organs and the classical organ repertoire from every period. In a lifelong search for authenticity, the indefatigable Biggs visited places in Holland, North Germany, England, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland where some of the great organist-composers of the Renaissance and Baroque had lived and worked. Between 1961 and 1970, Columbia recorded him in a "Historic Organs of Europe" series, performing music by Bach, Buxtehude, Couperin, Dunstable, Frescobaldi, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Purcell, Soler, Sweelinck, Tallis and many others. In his original notes to this ambitious project, which Sony Classical is now reissuing complete in a collection of 6 CDs, Biggs wrote: "It is fascinating to play a composer's music on the organ he played. You feel that you have touched the lifeline of history... Beethoven's orchestra, Bach's choir are all gone, but the same organs on which great musicians played are still available." When these famous recordings were released on LP, Gramophone's reviewer wrote that "the commanding sweep of the whole panorama makes compulsive listening... The enthusiasm of Mr. Power Biggs for his subjects makes him the ideal guide: he can turn his hand to any organ and make a neat job of the music, however recalcitrant the actions may be. His performances are sumptuously recorded." Organ aficionados will relish this new opportunity to experience these musical milestones in this new box set.