Swayne: Stations of the Cross

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Swayne’s hour-long stations of the Cross is a monumental, impactful work, Messiaen-esque in style and ambition. Wonderful paying and exceptional recording quality. — BBC Music Magazine, June 2020, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 5th Mar 2013
Catalogue No: RES10118
Label: Resonus Classics
Length: 60 minutes

Swayne: Stations of the Cross, Book 1, Op. 96

Work length30:34

$8.00

$10.50

Simon Nieminski (organ)
Recorded: 3-5 October 2012
Recording Venue: St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

No. 1. Jesus is sentenced to death

Track length4:50

$1.00

$1.40

No. 2. Jesus takes up the cross

Track length2:13

$1.00

$1.40

No. 3. The first fall

Track length2:20

$1.00

$1.40

No. 4. Jesus and his mother

Track length5:10

$1.00

$1.40

No. 5. Simon of Cyrene

Track length4:18

$1.00

$1.40

No. 6. Veronica

Track length3:51

$1.00

$1.40

No. 7. The second fall

Track length7:52

$2.00

$2.10

Swayne: Stations of the Cross, Book 2, Op. 100

Work length29:44

$8.00

$10.50

Simon Nieminski (organ)
Recorded: 3-5 October 2012
Recording Venue: St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

No. 8. The women of Jerusalem

Track length5:00

$1.00

$1.40

No. 9. The third fall

Track length3:13

$1.00

$1.40

No. 10. Jesus is stripped of his clothes

Track length4:33

$1.00

$1.40

No. 11. Jesus is nailed to the cross

Track length2:49

$1.00

$1.40

No. 12. Jesus dies on the cross

Track length3:43

$1.00

$1.40

No. 13. Jesus' body is laid in his mother's arms

Track length2:46

$1.00

$1.40

No. 14. Jesus' body is laid in the tomb

Track length7:40

$2.00

$2.10

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About

Resonus Classics is proud to release the world premiere recording of Giles Swayne's epic organ work Stations of the Cross. Making his Resonus debut with Stations is the Edinburgh-based organist Simon Niemiński.

Recorded on the 2007 Matthew Copley organ of St Mary's Metroplitan Cathedral in Edinburgh - where Simon is the resdent organist - this extensive solo work is at the pinnacle of virtuosic organ repertoire, with each of the fourteen movements representing an episode in the story of the Passion of Christ.

Composed during autumn 2004 and early 2005, and at one hour in length, Stations is one of the most significant and substantial organ works to have been commissioned in recent times. Focusing particularly on those human aspects of the Passion most important to Swayne, he has created an intensely powerful and descriptive work that surely ranks among the most important works of the organ repertoire.

Reviews

June 2020

Swayne’s hour-long stations of the Cross is a monumental, impactful work, Messiaen-esque in style and ambition. Wonderful paying and exceptional recording quality.

May 2020

In terms of evocative gesture and the way in which Swayne devises his own modes, the music of his teacher Messiaen, stripped of its deeply imbued Catholic mystery, hovers in the background. It seems to me at its best when at its most organ- centric; the trio in ‘Simon of Cyrene’, and the concluding Prelude & Fugue (‘Jesus’ body is laid in the tomb’). As one would expect, Simon Niemiński plays this hugely difficult score brilliantly.

June 2020

The scope of the work is dark, dramatic and emotionally intense and the musical language uncompromisingly dissonant...Simon Nieminski champions this vast score with a compelling intensity that captures the visionary scope of Swayne’s writing magnificently. This is neither a work nor a performance for the fainthearted; but for those willing to give themselves up to this strangely powerful music, there is much to savour.

Swayne: Stations of the Cross

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