Recordings

Organ Recordings

The most recent recordings have been made by a Fellow of the College, Dr Sidney Kenderdine. The organ speaks exceptionally well with the music of Bach and three CDs of his works have now been issued.

Review of Bach in Pembroke: "This is a charming disc and very well played." - Organists' Review - February 1999.

Earlier recordings have been made by Anne Page, the international recitalist who lives in Cambridge and teaches on the Pembroke organ.

The organ was also chosen by Simon Preston as one of the three specifications controversially reproduced as the new University organ in the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, opened 1999. Alongside the very different instruments of Salisbury Cathedral and Paris Ste Clotilde (a North German baroque organ is also being added), our organ was recorded pipe by pipe via the Bradford Enhanced Synthesis Technique. Of the opening recital, given by Simon Preston in June 1999, the reviewer in The Independent wrote:

"Far more successful was Purcell's D Minor Double Organ Voluntary, played on an approximation of the little chapel organ at Pembroke College, Cambridge… The sounds were indubitably authentic, but I'm old enough to miss the clatter of the keys."

Why not come and hear the real thing?

Recording by the Chapel Choir

Following the success of their first disc, "In the Midst of Life", which had to be re-cut to meet demand, Pembroke choir released their second CD, "Songs of Farewell", in 1998. A collection of sublime choral music by early twentieth-century English composers, it was recorded by one of the UK's leading choral labels, Priory Records.

The CD features Hubert Parry's six Songs of Farewell written between 1916 and 1918, which reflect how profoundly the War affected him before his death in 1918.

Other music on the disc includes a setting of the Te Deum by Malcolm Archer, commissioned by the College as part of its 650th anniversary celebrations. It is complemented with inspiring pieces by Harris, Holst, Wood and Naylor, all recorded in Pembroke's stunning Wren Chapel.

Directed by Christopher Gray, Organ: Emma Gibbins, Producer: Sarah Baldock.