Launched to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Alfred Hollins’s birth, this disc showcases the 1930 Kilgen/1947 Möller organ at Third Baptist Church in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 2012 the organ was rebuilt and enlarged by the Reuter organ company and now contains 72 stops across 7 divisions. It is ideal for the music of Hollins and his contemporaries, containing as it does a wealth of pipework from the 1930s.
In addition to favourite works by Hollins, the imaginative programme pairs his works with little-known pieces by some of the dedicatees of Hollins’ music, in a wonderful introduction to the characterful and colourful lighter organ music of the early decades of the twentieth century.
Simon Niemiński was born in London and studied in London at the Royal College of Music, at Cambridge University and as Organ Scholar of York Minster. He is Organist of St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral, and Director of Music at The Robin Chapel in Edinburgh, having previously been Organist and Master of the Music at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, where he directed the choir in daily choral services, concerts, recordings and broadcasts.
He has featured in programmes including 'The Organist Entertains' on BBC Radio 2, to 'Choral Evensong' several times live on Radio 3, and 'Pipedreams' in the USA. As a recitalist, he has played at venues around the UK, Europe and the USA. His CD recordings have helped to revive the music of unjustly neglected composers, including releases of music by Eugène Reuchsel and Edward Shippen Barnes – an American pupil of Louis Vierne.
