Michael Murray - Encores à la française - Poulenc: Organ Concerto, FP 93 (2022)

American organist Michael Murray is best recognized for his many strong-selling recordings on the Telarc label. Murray attended Butler University and Oberlin College, where he studied with Haskell Thomson, and he also studied with Marcel Dupré between 1961 and 1965. He made his performance debut in a series of 12 recitals in Cleveland during the 1968-1969 season, playing all of Bach's organ works. His European debut was at the Galtus and Garmer van Hagerbeer organ, built in 1642, at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1972. That was also the year that he performed all the organ works of César Franck and made his first recording for what would become the Telarc label. Since then, he has performed on organs throughout the U.S. and Europe, dedicating and re-dedicating many instruments. Murray has been soloist with the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony, to name just a few of his guest appearances. He has played the organs of St. Bavo's in Haarlem, St. Ouen in Rouen, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Salisbury Cathedral, and the Royal Albert Hall for some of his recordings. To celebrate 30 years with Telarc, Murray recorded a recital of Dupré, Franck, and Widor on the same organ the composers played, that of St. Sulpice in Paris. His playing is noted for its stunning but natural technique and his musical intuition. Murray has also distinguished himself as a scholar and author. In addition to hosting radio interviews with fellow musicians and authors, and writing numerous articles for Diapason and The American Organist, he has published three books. His first, Marcel Dupré: The Work of a Master Organist, from 1985, was the first major publication about the composer's life and work. He followed this up with one about Albert Schweitzer's musical life and the 1998 French Masters of the Organ. Murray has been on the staff of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Columbus, OH, since 1994 and serves on the advisory board to the Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities. In 2000, he received an honorary doctorate from Ohio State University. © Patsy Morita