Dreamcatcher James McVinnie

• Gabriella Smith (b. 1991):
• 1 Smith: Imaginary Pancake 08:11
• Nico Muhly (b. 1961):
• 2 Muhly: Patterns: Move along 03:54
• 3 Muhly: Patterns: Palindromes 02:40
• 4 Muhly: Patterns: Similar 03:26
• 5 Muhly: Patterns: Very Fast Music 05:30
• Laurie Spiegel (b. 1945):
• 6 Spiegel: The Unquestioned Answer (Arr. for Organ by James McVinnie) 09:18
• Meredith Monk (b. 1942):
• 7 Monk: Ellis Island (Arr. for Organ by James McVinnie) 03:13
• inti figgis-vizueta (b. 1993):
• 8 figgis-vizueta: build-it-yourself 02:49
• Marcos Balter (b. 1974):
• 9 Balter: Dreamcatcher 03:11
• John Adams (1735 - 1826):
• 10 Adams: China Gates 05:04
• Giles Swanye (b. 1946):
• 11 Swanye: Riff-raff 17:40
• Bryce Dessner (b. 1976):
• 12 Dessner: Song for Octave 03:37
• Total Runtime 01:08:33

Info for Dreamcatcher

Organist and pianist James McVinnie makes his PENTATONE debut with Dreamcatcher, an intimate sequence of contemporary classical music centred around the act of imagining. The recording features the organ of St Albans Cathedral—an epoch-making instrument closely associated with legendary organists Peter Hurford and Ralph Downes.

The piano segments of the album were recorded on a Steinway D of exceptional beauty at Studio Richter Mahr, co-founded by composer Max Richter and visual artist Yulia Mahr. A mesmerising sonic trip, Dreamcatcher reflects the unique artistic persona of McVinnie, whose mastery of core organ repertoire extends to an extensive body of work written for him by leading contemporary classical composers, as well as collaborations in the world of electronic and experimental music.

The album features works by Nico Muhly, Meredith Monk, Laurie Spiegel, John Adams, inti figgis-vizeuta, Gabriella Smith, Glies Swayne, Bryce Dessner & Marcos Balter. The album's title is taken from Marcos Balter’s work of the same name, written in response to the child separation crisis at the US-Mexico border in 2018— “dreamers” being the name given to children separated from their families by the Trump administration’s immigration policy. This record also presents the first ever recording of Giles Swayne's Riff-raff made on the St Albans organ for which the work was written in 1983— McVinnie’s rendition embodying a perfect synergy between the piece’s minimalist roots and the modernist tonal philosophy of this instrument.

Through his boundless approach to music making, innovative programming and captivating musicianship, James McVinnie has carved out a unique career as an organist and keyboard player.

James McVinnie, piano, organ St. Albans Cathedral

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 48 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 96 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

James McVinnie
is an organist and keyboard player whose boundless approach to music making has seen him carve out a unique career.

McVinnie’s career began at the organs of some of the UK’s most revered places of worship, including time spent as Sub-Organist at St Paul’s Cathedral and Assistant Organist of Westminster Abbey. In the years since he has gone on to become one of classical music’s most captivating and innovative performers.

McVinnie has collaborated with a great number of artists from different musical fields and genres. They include the composer and sound artist Tristan Perich, electronics duo Darkstar, singer-songwriters Sufjan Stevens, Sam Amidon and Beth Orton, and Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. He has also had major concerto solo works written for him by, among others, Nico Muhly, Gabriella Smith, Martin Creed, David Chalmin, David Lang, Bryce Dessner and Hildur Guðnadóttir

Since 2017 he has directed the James McVinnie Ensemble, a collective of virtuoso keyboardists dedicated to exploring work often preoccupied with political themes by contemporary and emerging composers. The ensemble’s debut performance was of Philip Glass’ Music in Twelve Parts – the only performance in the piece’s history given by anyone other than the Philip Glass Ensemble.

As a member of Icelandic collective and record label Bedroom Community, McVinnie has released three albums: Cycles (2013, works by Nico Muhly), Cycles_1 (2016, a remix album) and Counterpoint (2021) which pairs music of J S Bach & Philip Glass. Among his other recordings is All Night Chroma featuring music by Tom Jenkinson/Squarepusher, which was recorded on our Royal Festival Hall organ, and released on Warp Records in 2019.

McVinnie became a Southbank Centre Resident Artist in 2024. His residency began in March that year with two performances on our Royal Festival Hall organ as part of the instrument’s 70th anniversary celebrations.

Booklet for Dreamcatcher