Liszt, Mendelssohn and the Art of the Organ Transcription

An organ recital given by Olivier Salandini (Basilica de Notre Dame, Nice). This recital is centred on Franz Liszt – not on his great organ works but on his extensive activities as a transcriber of his own works and those of other composers. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, with recording and broadcasting far in the future, organ and piano transcriptions were extremely popular. They were the only way in which a great deal of classical music could generally be heard, and hundreds if not thousands of them were made and published. Later in the 20th century the organ transcription fell from favour, but it has never quite disappeared. Organists of the present day are viewing it in a new light, returning to the methods used by such masters as Liszt to make something that is historically and musically true.

This programme places some of Liszt’s own transcriptions alongside others of Liszt and Mendelssohn by Reitze Smits, a Netherlands organist well known for historical transcription work, and Olivier Salandini who has made an extensive survey of Liszt’s transcriptional methods. This is the first organ recital of its kind at St Machar’s Cathedral and it will hold some very interesting and agreeable surprises!