A new album to be released June 1 features Duke University Chapel Organist Christopher Jacobson playing the chapel’s original organ.
The album, “The Aeolian Organ at Duke University Chapel,” is the first commercial recording to feature the Kathleen Upton Byrns McClendon Organ since its restoration in 2008. The giant instrument, located in the chapel’s chancel area with 6,600 pipes, was built and installed by the Aeolian Organ Company in 1932 as part of the original construction of the chapel.
(Listen to excerpts from the album.)
“With the organ speaking as it did in 1932, it’s primetime to let its voice be heard,” Jacobson said. “The Aeolian was designed to rival and complement the sounds of a symphony orchestra, and the music on this album plays to the strength of the instrument’s symphonic prowess.”
The recording, published by the Dutch classical music label Pentatone, includes symphonic compositions transcribed for organ, such as Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia,” as well as popular tunes including “Londonderry Air” from “O Danny Boy.”
At the heart of the album is Marcel Dupré’s “Trois Préludes et Fugues,” an early 20th century composition Jacobson says “changed the face of organ composition by advancing organ playing technique to unprecedented heights.” The final piece on the album is Eugene Gigout’s “Grand Choeur Dialogue,” in collaboration with the Amalgam Brass Ensemble.
Soundmirror production company recorded the album last year at the chapel before the building closed for restoration work.
The McClendon Organ, often called the Aeolian, can be heard regularly at Duke Chapel during midweek organ demonstrations, baccalaureate and convocation ceremonies, and Sunday morning, Evensong and Vespers worship services. Students in the chapel’s Organ Scholar program use the organ regularly for lessons, practice and performance.
