Female organists are not common, and Anna Lapwood was the first woman in 560 years to be made an Organ Scholar (an organist who performs at services in exchange for tuition considerations) at Magdalen College, Oxford. Those who have a sense of humor about what they do are rarer still (Lapwood quotes a critical evaluation of composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad to the effect that "she is unafraid even to sprinkle a little cheese over it all"), and those who can pull off Botticelli Birth-of-Venus graphics may have been nonexistent ...
Read More
Female organists are not common, and Anna Lapwood was the first woman in 560 years to be made an Organ Scholar (an organist who performs at services in exchange for tuition considerations) at Magdalen College, Oxford. Those who have a sense of humor about what they do are rarer still (Lapwood quotes a critical evaluation of composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad to the effect that "she is unafraid even to sprinkle a little cheese over it all"), and those who can pull off Botticelli Birth-of-Venus graphics may have been nonexistent until Lapwood came along. She has certainly made a splash in the tradition-bound organ scene, but for all that, what catches one's attention about Images, her 2021 solo organ debut, is that for all the innovation, it's a solid organ album with many ties to tradition. Four of the works, by Ravel, Debussy, Britten, and Messiaen, are arranged for the organ, but only one, that of Britten's Four Sea Interludes, Op. 33a, was arranged by Lapwood; organists in the past have noticed the...
Read Less