Harald Feller - Phantomes An Organ Spectacular (2006) [SACD]

Harald Feller demolishes the stereotype of stodgy German organists with his extroverted interpretive approach to music, whether Baroque masterpieces or his own stunning transcriptions of film music. 'Phantomes' is played on the new Goll organ which resides in the acoustically superb St.-Martin-Kirche in Memmingen, captured in state-of-the-art surround sound.
My five stars are for audiophile-oriented listeners; I realize some would turn up their noses at this program, or at any program promoted as a "spectacular." But I found it great fun, and if you have really full-range surround speakers or are managing your lowest frequencies sensibly (feeding them to your subwoofer since most classical SACDs are 5.0 - not 5.1) you should as well. Organist Feller is a skilled performer and the 62-register Swiss-made organ installed in 1998 is designed on the French symphonic organ model and is perfect for this particular program of works.
Feller gets right own to it opening with the familiar Toccata and Fugue in d minor. The surround sonics and spatial layout of the various voices make this an exhilarating listening experience. Feller uses an old organ transcription of the Wm. Tell Overture which is quite ingenious and effective. It may even cause you to not think about the Lone Ranger. The short Vierne piece provides the major connection to the French symphonic organ school.
A connection with motion picture music was behind most of the pieces Feller chose for the recording. The Rota sonata is one of that film composer's many works which were not written for the movies, but it has an occasional subtle Rota harmonic progression that made me think of some of my favorite Fellini films. In the 70s Crystal Clear Records had a direct disc with music from Star Wars on the pipe organ. Feller did his own clever arrangements of five themes from the films and the Goll organ is worlds more impressive than the low-budget instrument on that earlier DD. If you've OD'd on Erich Kunzel-type John Williams film music, you may find that Williams on pipe organ is an extremely refreshing experience. The closing toccata comes from one of the leading soundtrack music composers in current German films. It brings the program to a rousing finish with a virtuosically-stated chorale theme.
John Sunier