In his short life (1839–72) Eduard Adolf Tod garnered a reputation as one of the finest organists of the day: Liszt praised his playing, and he gave a recital in the Royal Albert Hall in the very year of its opening. Most of Tod’s handful of works for the organ – solo and as a duo partner – have not been recorded before. Here they are joined by three other little-known German organ sonatas – by Ludwig Thuille, Carl Reinecke and August Ritter – to give an overview of the genre as it evolved from its well-behaved Mendelssohnian origins into late-Romantic grandeur.

Dr Jan Lehtola is one the most successful and progressive Finnish organists of his generation. He graduated from the Church Music Department of the Sibelius Academy, gaining his diploma with distinction in 1998. He is a Lecturer in Organ Music in the Sibelius Academy. He has given more than 150 world and regional premieres and can be heard on more than 30 commercial recordings, one of them an album of the complete album music of William Humphreys Dayas for Toccata Classics, released on TOCC0285. His other Toccata Classics releases are of music by Kokkonen (Jouko Linjama’s arrangement for chorus and organ of Kokkonen’s Requiem, coupled with his complete output for solo organ) on TOCC0434, and a programme of Karg-Elert and Sibelius recorded, with Annikka Konttori-Gustafsson, on piano and organ, released on TOCC0419.

Performed on the organ of St John’s Church, Helsinki