The Planets (2024)
Available from 18 September 2024. Salisbury Cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music, John Challenger, releases his fourth solo album on the Cathedral’s famous Father Willis Organ. John’s arrangement of Holst’s Planets Suite, made specially for the organ here at Salisbury Cathedral, will be available in two recorded formats – audio album, and YouTube film. More details of how to order, and where to watch, coming soon.
Salisbury Christmas (2023)
Released in November 2023, this is a new collection of carols, seasonal songs and music, performed by Salisbury Cathedral Choir, with Director of Music, David Halls and Assistant Director of Music, John Challenger (organ).
Music includes God rest you merry (Willcocks), Candlelight Carol (Rutter), Sing Lullaby (Howells) and Tomorrow shall be my dancing day (Gardner). The album also includes the first recording of Errollyn Wallen’s Salisbury Carol, commissioned by Salisbury Cathedral in 2022.
Organ Prom (2020)
Salisbury Cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music, John Challenger, releases his third album on the Cathedral’s famous Father Willis Organ, bringing the thrill of the popular Organ Prom to your own home.
Music includes Orb and Sceptre March (Walton), Toccata and Fugue in D minor (Bach), Nimrod (Elgar) and Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 (Elgar).
Salisbury Meditation (2021)
John Challenger, the Cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music, and award-winning classical music recording producer and engineer Andrew Mellor of AJM Productions Ltd recorded Salisbury Meditation – Music for the NHS, a digital album of classics played during the COVID-19 vaccination sessions at Salisbury Cathedral.
Funds raised go to NHS Charities Together, the membership body for 241 NHS charities that give £1 million every day to help our hospitals do more.
Salisbury Meditation features sixteen tracks played by John on the Cathedral’s renowned Father Willis Organ, including Sheep may safely graze, Salut d’amour, The Swan (Carnival of the Animals) and Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring.
Stream Salisbury Meditation on Spotify
Salisbury Meditation CD available to purchase from the Cathedral Gift Shop
Cesar Franck (2019)
John Challenger, Assistant Director of Music, plays the major organ works of the nineteenth-century composer and founder of the French Symphonic organ school, César Franck.
The programme includes Franck’s Pièce Heroïque, the Prelude, Fugue and Variation, and the Cantabile, along with the gigantic Three Chorals for Organ, which Franck composed in 1890, immediately prior to his death. The romantic sounds of Salisbury’s iconic organ, along with the glorious acoustics of Salisbury Cathedral, are a perfect match for this repertoire.
J. S. Bach from Salisbury
Recorded by Priory in 2017, J S Bach on Salisbury Cathedral’s fine Willis organ seems an unbeatable combination. David Halls‘ performances of some of Bach’s very best organ works is full-blooded and vibrant. The monumental Preludes and Fugues in C minor, B minor, A minor and E minor are contrasted by shorter works in major keys. The tonal colours of the instrument are beautifully captured in this atmospheric recording, and the overall sound can easily be identified as Salisbury Cathedral.
Available to purchase from the Cathedral Gift Shop
The Salisbury Sound
This exciting recording contains organ music from England, France and America, with music by Delius, Dupre, Elgar, Howells, Widor and others. The programme is top and tailed with Elgar’s rousing Imperial March and the impressive Finale from Widor’s Symphonie No. 6. In between, we have smaller works, including an arrangement of Sousa’s Liberty Bell, forever associated with Monty Python, and Delius’s delicate On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. There is also a nod to Percy Whitlock, the noted Bournemouth organist, with a movement from his Organ Sonata.
Available to purchase from the Cathedral Gift Shop
The Grand Organ of Salisbury Cathedral
This CD and DVD recording offers a far-reaching visual experience by showing not only the organ and organist, but also by filming in and around the city of Salisbury, creating links with the history of the Cathedral and its surrounds. The recording can however just be listened to as a normal CD.
Much of the music featured has a Salisbury connection with the well-known last track being Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster, dedicated to the Salisbury Cathedral organ’s builder, Henry Willis. There are pieces by Walter Alcock, Geoffrey Bush, Eric Coates, Herbert Howells and Frederic Wood and a truly significant work from the organ repertoire, Flor Peeters’ Toccata, Fugue and Hymn on ‘Ave maris stella’, based on the ancient hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom Salisbury Cathedral is dedicated.
Available to purchase from the Cathedral Gift Shop
