Music For Organ And Orchestra: Festival Prelude For Organ And Orchestra Op. 61 - Organ Concerto In G Minor - Toccata Festiva, Op. 36

This recording, released by CBS under catalog number SBR-235035, serves as a significant collection of twentieth-century concertos for organ and orchestra. It highlights the collaborative efforts of renowned organist E. Power Biggs with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein and The Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. The program includes Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva, a work commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra for the 1960 inauguration of the Wanamaker organ in the Grand Court of John Wanamaker’s department store, and Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, a cornerstone of the repertoire that balances neoclassical structure with late-Romantic emotional depth.

The album is a testament to the mid-century push to capture the versatility of the pipe organ within symphonic settings. E. Power Biggs was a central figure in the organ revival movement, instrumental in bringing the instrument to wider audiences through recordings and radio broadcasts. His partnership with legendary conductors like Bernstein and Ormandy ensured that these challenging, high-fidelity recordings reflected the acoustic breadth of major American concert halls. Upon its release, the record was well-regarded for its technical clarity and for showcasing the organ not merely as a liturgical instrument, but as a dynamic participant in the orchestral dialogue.