For those unaware, on April 8th, 2025, Gail Archer, professor of professional practice of music, released her 11th album, Dobrich: A Bulgarian Odyssey, which showcases rarely performed works by seven Bulgarian composers from the 20th century.

Recorded during her 2024 worldwide tour in the Concert Hall of Dobrich, Bulgaria, the album continues Archer’s exploration of Eastern European organ music, following her previous releases featuring Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian composers.

Known for her adventurous approach to classical organ repertoire, Archer aims to bring attention to underrecognized organ music from Bulgaria. Dobrich features a dynamic selection of nine pieces, including works by contemporary composers Sabin Levi and Velislav Zaimov, as well as the “matriarch” of the Bulgarian organ school, Neva Krysteva.

1. Erendira
2. Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen
3. Two Frescoes
• Fresco I
• Fresco II
4. Victmae Paschali Laudes
5. Evharistia
6. Prelude for Organ
7. Variations on the song Polegnala e Tudora
8. Prelude
9. Toccata
10. O Heiland, reiss die Himmel auf

Hailed as one of this era’s most adventurous interpreters of the classical organ repertoire, leading female organist Gail Archer opens her new recording on the wide-ranging scope of Erendira and then we get the melodiously cultured Es kommt ein Schiff, geladen, then come two pieces from Two Frescoes: the first the rhythmically pleasing Fresco I, the second the more streamlined, precise even Fresco II, before the industrially-hued, pitched Victmae Paschali Laudes is brought forth.

Along next is the strident Evharistia and that is in turn backed seamlessly by the veritably, at times, shimmering, at others stoically fluid Prelude for Organ, the earnestly organic Variations on the song Polegnala e Tudora, the cinematically-flared Prelude coupled with the flourishing Toccata, the set rounding out on the gently foreboding, yet still emphatically melodic O Heiland, reiss die Himmel auf.

www.gailarcher.com