The New Goll-Organ: |Portrait of a Queen

The Marktkirche at Hanover has a new organ. The church’s organist Ulfert Smidt with this CD presents the first recording at the instrument. The disc’s title Portrait einer Königin puts the disc’s concept in a nutshell: in compositions ranging from Johann Sebastian Bach to Olivier Messiaen, Smidt demonstrates with highest prowess the wealth of the new Goll-Organ’s possible sounds and their combinations. His performance of Max Reger’s choral fantasia Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme in particular uses the most varied of nuances, from a true pianissimo to the impressive tutti. The enormous variety of sounds and the high artistry are reflected equally in compositions from the French repertoire, in Louis-Claude Daquin’s Noel Suisse, and César Franck’s L’Organiste. The sound-rich instrument was built by the Swiss company Orgelbau Goll between 2007 and 2009. It completes the organ building project at the Marktkirche which had been on-going since 2002 and included three instruments. In addition to the great Goll-Organ in the old casing in the south transept, the church has been home to the Italian-Organ since 2007, built by Fabrizio Cimino on a moveable wagon in the nave, and the new Choir-Ensemble-Organ by the Orgelbauwerkstatt Hermann Eule in the tower’s choir gallery since 2008.