L’Orgue Grégorien: A year of chant-based organ music from the London Oratory Ben Bloor

• Arthur Wills (1926 - 2020):
• 1Wills: Carillon on ‘Orientis Partibus’04:43
• Ralph Downes (1904 - 1993):
• 2Downes: Paraphrase on ‘O filii et filiæ’04:43
• Naji Hakim (b. 1955):
• 3Hakim: Antienne (Mariales)02:57
• Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877 - 1933):
• 4Karg-Elert: Cathedral Windows, Op. 106: II. Ave Maria (Sequenza)05:16
• 5Karg-Elert: Cathedral Windows, Op. 106: VI. Lauda Sion05:23
• Maurice Duruflé (1902 - 1986):
• 6Duruflé: Prélude, Adagio et Choral Varié sur le Veni Creator, Op. 4: III. Choral Varié05:47
• Jehan Alain (1911 - 1940):
• 7Alain: Variations sur Lucis Creator, JA 2704:37
• 8Alain: Postlude pour l’Office de complies, JA 2905:10
• Charles Tournemire (1870 - 1939):
• 9Tournemire: Diptyque (L’Orgue Mystique, No. 11: Purificatio Beatæ Virginis Mariæ)10:34
• Jean-Yves Daniel- Lesur (1908 - 2002):
• 10Lesur: In paradisum03:40
• Jeanne Demessieux (1921 - 1968):
• 11Demessieux: Rorate cæli03:03
• Matthew Martin (b. 1976):
• 12Martin: Prelude on ‘Conditor alme siderum’02:30
• Aguste Fauchard (1881 - 1957):
• 13Fauchard: Le mystère de Noël16:06
• Total Runtime01:14:29

Info for L’Orgue Grégorien: A year of chant-based organ music from the London Oratory

Prizewinning performer Ben Bloor makes his debut recording on the iconic instrument with which he is so well acquainted: the Walker organ of the London Oratory, designed by Ralph Downes in 1954. The carefully constructed programme is one close to his heart: music centred around Gregorian chant, and takes in a liturgical year of plainsong-based works from 20th- and 21st-century France, Germany and England. The instrument’s fantastic breadth of colour finds its home in well-trodden favourites by Duruflé and Demessieux, but also in gems recorded here for the first time, including a new commission based on the Advent hymn, Conditor alme siderum, by Matthew Martin.

Ben Bloor, organ

Ben Bloor
is the Organist of the London Oratory Church, where he accompanies the professional adult choir for weekly Mass and Vespers and oversees the famous Downes/Walker organ. He combines this with a busy freelance recital career and the post of School Organist at Westminster School, where he teaches organ and plays for services in Westminster Abbey. Ben was the winner of the 2012 Northern Ireland International Organ Competition, and a semi-finalist in the inaugural Wadden Sea International Organ Competition held in Denmark in January 2017. He was awarded second prize in the Boston Bach International Organ Competition 2018 and also the Canadian International Organ Competition in 2021, as well as the Douglas May Award in the 2023 St Albans International Organ Competition. Ben holds a First-Class Honours degree in Music from the University of Oxford and the Limpus prize for highest marks in the 2013 FRCO examinations.

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