A 22-CD celebration of the doyenne of organists on her 80th birthday (17 January 2021) spanning her illustrious career of nearly five decades.

It presents Gillian Weir’s complete Argo recordings, selected recordings on other labels that have reverted to her, and most enticingly, no fewer than ten discs of previously unpublished BBC radio broadcasts – selected by Dame Gillian. The first twelve CDs in the set are made up of studio recordings and the remaining ten CDs comprise previously unpublished recordings of BBC broadcasts. (Note: the BBC recordings are not included on digital services for streaming or download.)

The set features sixteen organs from six countries and includes a 13,000-word booklet includes informative introductions to the recordings, with Gillian Weir’s reminiscences and amusing anecdotes from the recording sessions and from her encounters with composers such as Olivier Messiaen and William Mathias.

‘Weir is to the organ what Heifetz was to the violin, and Casals to the cello – a phenomenon,’ pronounced the celebrated broadcaster John Amis.

TRACK LIST

THE STUDIO RECORDINGS (CDs 1–12)

CD 1
NICOLAUS BRUHNS (1665–1697)
Præludium in G major
Præludium in E minor ‘Großes’
Præludium in E minor ‘Kleines’
Fantasia on Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland

SAMUEL SCHEIDT (1587–1654)
Passamezzo, SSWV 107
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Clare College, Cambridge

CD 2
JEAN-FRANÇOIS DANDRIEU (1682–1738)
Premier Livre de Pièces d’Orgue
Pièces en A. Mi La majeur
Magnificat
Pièces en G. Ré sol mineur
Magnificat
Gillian Weir at the Organs of Leonhardskirche, Basel and the Great Organ of the Church of Saint-Maximin de Thionville

CD 3
LOUIS MARCHAND (1669–1732)
Premier livre d’orgue excerpts
Troisième livre d’orgue excerpt
Quatrième livre d’orgue
Cinquième livre d’orgue
Gillian Weir at the Great Organ of the Church of Saint-Maximin de Thionville

CD 4
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564
Fantasia in G major, BWV 572
Trio Sonata No. 1 in E flat major, BWV 525
Passacaglia in C minor, BWV 582
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Laurenskerk, Rotterdam

CD 5
FRANÇOIS COUPERIN (1668–1733)
Messe pour les Paroisses
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Prediger-Kirche, Zürich

CD 6
FRANÇOIS COUPERIN (1668–1733)
Messe pour les Couvents
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Prediger-Kirche, Zürich

LOUIS-NICOLAS CLÉRAMBAULT (1676–1749)
Livre d’Orgue
Suite du Premier Ton (G minor)
Suite du Deuxième Ton (D minor)
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Prediger-Kirche, Zürich

CD 7
FRANÇOIS ROBERDAY (1624–1680)
Fugue et Caprices pour orgue
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Leonhardskirche, Basel

CD 8
CHARLES CAMILLERI (1931–2009)
Missa Mundi
Gillian Weir at the Organ of the Royal Festival Hall

CD 9
THE ORGAN AT HEXHAM ABBEY
CHARLES-MARIE WIDOR (1844–1937)
Allegro (Symphony No. 6, Op. 42 No. 2)

LOUIS VIERNE (1870–1937)
Impromptu (Pièces de Fantaisie)

JOHN BULL (1562–1628)
Dr. Bull’s My Selfe
Dr. Bull’s Jewell

NICOLAS DE GRIGNY (1672–1703)
Récit de Tierce en Taille (Premier Livre d’Orgue)

HENRI MULET (1878–1967)
Tu es Petra (Esquisses byzantines)

LOUIS-CLAUDE DAQUIN (1694–1772)
Noël XII: Noël Suisse

MARCEL DUPRÉ (1886–1971)
Fileuse (Suite Bretonne, Op. 21 No. 2)

JEAN LANGLAIS (1907–1991)
Dialogue sur les mixtures (Suite Brève)

THOMAS TOMKINS (1572–1656)
Worster Braules

JAN PIETERSZOON SWEELINCK (1562–1621)
Mein junges Leben hat ein End

THÉODORE DUBOIS (1837–1924)
Toccata in G minor (12 Pièces Nouvelles)
Gillian Weir at the Organ of Hexham Abbey

CD 10
FELIX MENDELSSOHN (1809–1847)
Hör mein Bitten (Hear my Prayer)
Motet, Op. 39 No. 1: Veni, Domine
Ave Maria, Op. 23 No. 2
Felicity Palmer, soprano (Hör mein Bitten)
John Elwes, tenor (Ave Maria)
Heinrich Schütz Choir and Chorale
Gillian Weir, organ
Roger Norrington

ZOLTÁN KODÁLY (1882–1967)
Psalm 114, from the Geneva Psalter
Laudes Organi – Fantasia on a 12th-century sequence
Brighton Festival Chorus
Gillian Weir, organ
László Heltay

CD 11
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Le Banquet Céleste
Les Corps Glorieux
Apparition de l’Église Éternelle
Gillian Weir at the Organ of the Royal Festival Hall, London

CD 12
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace
L’Ascension (excerpts)
Gillian Weir at the Organ of the Royal Festival Hall, London

MARCEL DUPRÉ (1886–1971)
Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS (1835–1921)
Fantaisie No. 1 in E flat major

LOUIS VIERNE (1870–1937)
3 Pièces de Fantaisie

JACQUES CHARPENTIER (1933–2017)
L’Ange à la Trompette

MARCEL DUPRÉ (1886–1971)
Deuxième Symphonie, Op. 26
Gillian Weir at the Hradetzky organ in the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester

BBC RECORDINGS (CDs 13–22)
Live Recordings from the BBC – Previously Unpublished
CD 13

LOUIS VIERNE (1870–1937)
Naïades (Pièces de Fantaisie)

OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Combat de la Mort et de la Vie (Les Corps Glorieux)

WILLIAM MATHIAS (1934–1992)
Variations on a Hymn Tune ‘Braint’, Op. 20

GILLIAN WEIR
at the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban, St. Albans, Hertfordshire

DIETERICH BUXTEHUDE (1637–1707)
Toccata in F major, BuxWV 156

GIROLAMO FRESCOBALDI (1583–1643)
Aria detto to Balletto

LUIGI ROSSI (1597–1653)
Toccata Settima

ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892–1955)
Fugue

ANTON HEILLER (1923–1979)
Suite: In Festo Corporis Christi
Gillian Weir at the organ of Chapel of Clare College, Cambridge

CD 14
THE ORGAN DANCES
ANTONIO VALENTE (1520–1580)
Lo ballo dell’ Intorcia

CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Choral No. 2

ANTON HEILLER (1923–1979)
Tanz-Toccata

PETR EBEN (1929–2007)
Walpurgisnacht (from Faust)

JEHAN ALAIN (1911–1940)
Trois Danses

OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Transports de joie d’une âme devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienna (L’Ascension)
Gillian Weir at the organ of the Royal Albert Hall, London

CD 15
MARCEL DUPRÉ (1886–1971)
Le Monde dans l’attente du Sauveur (Symphonie-Passion, Op. 23)

JEHAN ALAIN (1911–1940)
Intermezzo

CHARLES TOURNEMIRE (1870–1939)
Choral-paraphrase sur le Victimae Paschali (transc. Duruflé)
Gillian Weir at the organ of Birmingham Oratory, Birmingham

JEHAN ALAIN (1911–1940)
Deux Fantaisies
Gillian Weir at the organ of the Royal Festival Hall, London

JEAN LANGLAIS (1907–1991)
Incantation pour un jour saint

MAURICE DURUFLÉ (1902–1986)
Prélude sur l’Introït de l’Epiphanie

LÉON BOËLLMANN (1862–1897)
Versets sur ‘Adoro Te’

JEANNE DEMESSIEUX (1921–1968)
Deux Choral Préludes, Op. 8
Te Deum, Op. 11*
Gillian Weir at the organ of Aarhus Domkirke, Aarhaus, Denmark

CD 16
CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Choral No. 1 in E major (Trois Chorals)
Cantabile (Trois Pièces)
Grande Pièce Symphonique (Six Pièces)
Fantaisie in A major (Trois Pièces)
Prélude, Fugue et Variation, Op. 18 (Six Pièces)
Pièce héroïque (Trois Pièces)
Gillian Weir at the organ of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France

CD 17
CÉSAR FRANCK (1822–1890)
Choral No. 2 in B minor (Trois Chorals)
Pastorale (Six Pièces)
Prière, Op. 20 (Six Pièces)
Choral No. 3 in A minor (Trois Chorals)
Fantaisie in C major, Op. 16 (Six Pièces)
Andantino in G minor
Final, Op. 21 (Six Pièces)
Gillian Weir at the organ of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse, France

CD 18
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Le Banquet Céleste
Diptyque
Apparition de l’Église Éternelle
L’Ascension
Gillian Weir at the organ of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC

CD 19
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
La Nativité du Seigneur
Gillian Weir at the organ of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC

CD 20
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Les Corps Glorieux
Gillian Weir at the organ of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC

CD 21
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Messe de la Pentecôte
Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace
Livre d’Orgue
Gillian Weir at the organ of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC

CD 22
OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908–1992)
Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité
Gillian Weir at the organ of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC