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Stories   >   Anna Lapwood's 'Luna' celebrates the ethereal, otherworldly textures of the organ / BBC Music Magazine

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Anna Lapwood's 'Luna' celebrates the ethereal, otherworldly textures of the organ / BBC Music Magazine

Posted: October 3, 2023

Marking an exciting new chapter in her career, organ sensation Anna Lapwood stands on the cusp of something special with her eagerly anticipated new album Luna - on Sony Classical. The album follows a flurry of exciting activity this year.  She picked up the prestigious RPS Gamechanger Award at The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, celebrated the release of her stunning 5 track EP Midnight Sessions At The Royal Albert Hall and is about to perform a solo recital as part of this year’s BBC Proms season. 

An album that represents a rounded reflection of her highly impressive career to date, Luna is a fifteen-track collection of traditional classical repertoire alongside contemporary composers and new film music transcriptions.  The album predominantly features Anna as an organist, but the other side of her musical life is showcased too, conducting the Pembroke College Chapel Choir for two of the tracks. 

Anna explains: “One of the highlights of my year is the time I spend teaching music in Zambia.  I love it for the people, the music & the laughter, but I also always look forward to the first time I see the Zambian night sky again.  You look up and it’s just completely full of stars.  Bright stars, dull stars; some twinkling, some static; some glowing orbs and others dots smaller than pinpricks.  With this album, I’m imagining we’re standing there, gazing at the sky, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what we can see.  I’m imagining that as we stare upwards, our minds can almost take us there, travelling through the night sky and exploring individual stars with their unique personalities and characteristics.”


Luna Works by Debussy, Philip Glass, Max Richter, Hans Zimmer et al Anna Lapwood (organ) Sony Classical 19658831402 74:22 mins

BBC Music Magazine's Freya Parr writes….Luna is an apt name for this album, which celebrates the ethereal, otherworldly textures and timbres of the organ. While there are a few high-impact moments, Lapwood has chosen to explore the softer, delicate and lesser-heard colours the organ of the Royal Hospital School offers. Following her solo recital debut at the BBC Proms this year, Lapwood presents a similar programme blending traditional repertoire, contemporary composers and brand new film music transcriptions. There are predictable additions here alongside some surprising treats, such as Florence Price’s rarely performed An Elf on a Moonbeam and Glass’s Mad Rush, which, although initially written for the organ is now rarely heard on anything other than a piano.

Two of the featured tracks – Stars by Eriks Ešenvalds and the album’s lead single, Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight – bring the organ together with the Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge, of which Lapwood is director of music.

The inclusion of Ludovico Einaudi’s Experience is a hat tip to a request from Lapwood’s 555k-strong TikTok community. It is, like many of the other transcriptions featured here, well suited to the organ with its infinite crescendos and heightened drama. The lack of sustain pedal is often what poses a dilemma to organ transcriptions, but Lapwood has implemented numerous ways to overcome this obstacle across this eclectic programme.

This is a highly considered collection of performances, with close attention paid to phrasing, articulation and voicing. Lapwood has successfully delivered an album that cements her status as a true ambassador for classical music, and she manages to present the organ in new light, without any feeling of ‘dumbing down’. This artist really is an asset to the instrument and and the industry at large.
 

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