The second and last volume of our edition "Jesús Guridi - Complete Organ Works" was recorded on the Mutin-Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Iglesia del Salvador in Usurbil (basque country).
Besides Guridis first important organ composition, the 18 minutes long "Fantasía para gran órgano" composed in 1906/1907, you can hear a cycle of 20 shorter organ pieces named "spanish organ school".
Whereas in his Fantasía from 1906 (it was composed while Guridi studied in Brussels) very clear influences from his teacher Joseph Jongen can be found, the style of the "Escuela española del órgano" is very personal and mature, marked by the typical local basque color, which can be found in most of Guridis later compositions. The cycle could be compared to the "24 Pièces en Style libre" by Louis Vierne, the "24 Pièces" by André Fleury or even the "24 Préludes liturgiques" by Gaston Litaize.
These 20 pieces are all more or less easy to play, but nevertheless really charming: this cycle is absolutely worth being discovered and full of catchy tunes.
The organ we used for the recording is the same you can hear on our new recording with Wagner transcriptions (AE-10271).
