The first recording of Merton’s new Dobson organ – a mixed recital spanning repertoire from Bach and Stanley to Dupré and Messiaen – was designed to demonstrate the instrument’s considerable versatility. But behind the contemporary sophistication of its construction and design, this is essentially an English Romantic organ with a big, warm-hearted personality, securely grounded in the aesthetic traditions of the late nineteenth century, and this second recording highlights those qualities in music by the composer who pre-eminently shares them: Edward Elgar.

Benjamin Nicholas, Merton’s Reed Rubin Organist and Director of Music, here proves himself a fine Elgarian and an inventive programmer, coupling Elgar’s two original major works for the organ with three transcriptions – including a first outing on CD for the superb arrangement of the Prelude to The Kingdom made by Herbert Brewer, Elgar’s contemporary and the long-serving organist of Gloucester Cathedral.