British-Australian organist Joseph Nolan is Master of Music at St. George’s Cathedral in Perth, but Sydneysiders and organ aficionados would more likely know him for his celebrated series of Widor’s Organ Symphonies on the Signum label. Either way, there was a bit of a buzz in the air for his Sydney Symphony Orchestra recital as evidenced by a packed SOH Concert Hall – at 11am on a Friday morning! – and the opportunity to hear him take on two of the repertoire’s more fearsome beasts: Liszt’s mighty Fantasy and Fugue on Ad Nos, Ad Salutem and Widor’s Fifth (the one with that Toccata).

The Liszt first, and the longest of the great Romantic virtuoso’s essays for organ. Combining the composer’s twin (and occasionally conflicting) passions – church and the theatre – the Fantasy and Fugue may seem a work of intense and magisterial religiosity, but it’s Latin-monickered theme is actually taken from Meyerbeer’s then current operatic hit, Le Prophète. Liszt couldn’t resist a good tune and was an old hand at spinning out a catchy ditty into an ear-tickling fantasia, but in this case he really did excel himself, producing a multifaceted work of colour, subtlety and power.

Nolan tackled the...