Ad Nos - Organ Works Arranged For Piano (CD)

Gramophone Magazine
August 2026
Editor's Choice

Thomas Kelly (piano)

Liszt: Fantasia and Fugue on "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S. 259 (Transcr. Busoni)
Brahms: Chorale Prelude, Op. 122 (posth.): No. 10, "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" (Transcr. Busoni)
Alkan: Prières, Op. 64: No. 11, Andantino. Ingenuamente (Transcr. Vianna da Motta)
Franck, C: Chorale in A Minor, M. 40 (Transcr. Stephen Hough)
Reubke: Organ Sonata in C Minor "The 94th Psalm" (Transcr. August Stradal)
Rubbra: Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Cyril Scott, Op. 69

Following his 2nd Prize win at the Liszt Competition and Benjamin Britten Fellowship honors at the Royal College of Music, British pianist Thomas Kelly delivers a formidable debut recording for Rubicon. The program tackles a daunting lineup of monumental 19th- and 20th-century organ works reimagined for the piano by legendarily virtuosic transcribers.

At the core of the album are massive, towering structures: Ferruccio Busoni’s transcription of Liszt's epic Ad nos, ad salutarem undam and August Stradal’s arrangement of Julius Reubke’s volcanic Organ Sonata on "The 94th Psalm". Balanced alongside these titanic works are Stephen Hough's transcription of César Franck’s Chorale in A Minor, delicate miniatures by Brahms and Alkan, and Edmund Rubbra's Prelude and Fugue on a Theme of Cyril Scott. Kelly navigates these orchestral keyboard textures with exceptional clarity, intellectual rigor, and staggering technical assurance.

"Kelly exhibits a highly developed and polished technical command of his instrument. He has sound musical instincts and a secure intellectual grasp of a refreshingly wide repertory." — Gramophone Magazine, August 2026