References

"A highlight of the Rheingau Music Festival was Jan Doležel's organ concert in the Lorch Church of St. Martin."

"All attempts to classify Max Reger based on compositional categories must fall short: the traces he left in music history are complex... A great man in his field comes for this: the Czech organist Jan Dolezel....

Not only Folkert Uhde, the artistic leader of the Nuremberg International Organ Week, says about the Reger specialist: "He plays the most exciting Reger I've ever heard.""

"Occasionally, listeners fear the opulence of his works and their expansive structure, which always takes new turns. Jan Dolezel's playing in the Marktkirche, however, conveyed the great beauty of the compositions and allowed a unique approach to this music...

After an exciting opening, the “Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme in F sharp minor” escalate into hypnotic runs. Here Dolezel's virtuosity came to the fore...

There was also something of a mystery play inherent in 'Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E minor'. The storm was followed by the solemnly ascending fugue: as its last bars sounded, the light in the Marktkirche shone brighter. Jan Dolezel accepted the applause, bowed and pointed to the organ. A great interpreter with a lot of understatement."

"Dolezel had put Kaminski's "Three Chorale Preludes" on the program, which under his master's hands rounded off into an impressive sound triptych. Above all, "Morgenglanz der Ewigkeit", the third "picture" of the triptych, inspired with its late impressionist tone paintings, which Dolezel congenially registered.

... 

Finally, Dolezel presented an expansive organ work from his homeland: the "Concert Fantasy on the Saint Wenceslas Chorale" by the Czech composer, organist and violinist Josef Klicka. ... It was here at the latest that the organist was in top form. More rarely performed works, please!"

“It turned out to be a highlight of the 2011 season! ... Especially the pianissimo passages developed dreamlike moments of eternity and worship. Jan Dolezel played fabulously. A great concert evening that will be repeated!"

...You can hardly compose a program better: It was the reference of the young to the old, which Dolezel granted here with a wink... A second focus of the Czech was works from his homeland...

A discovery was the final piece, which the organist celebrated in front of the listeners in the well-occupied Münster: Vitezslav Novak had written his St. Wenceslas triptych in the 40s..."

"Enormous artistic maturity"

"Excellent technique, sensitive interpretation and skilful play with the registers: in Jan Doležel's concert, a few notes were enough to determine the musician's musical ability."

...

"Enormous how he built up tension and attracted attention through his playing even with little-known works..."

"It's amazing how Jan Dolezel, with an unerring sense for dramatic design, creates a cathedral of sound..."

"After the tremendous increase in the final, spontaneous applause breaks out."

Note: The critic is talking here about Reger's "Symphonic Fantasy and Fugue" op. 57. The work was right at the beginning of the concert.

"Here the very special art of registering Dolezels was shown. ... Here everything flowed together again: listening and understanding, virtuosity in playing technique and art of registering, bringing the music to life."

"A professional with a keen sense of drama...

...a superior virtuoso who masters the instrument, at the same time a talented registrar who can adequately illuminate the various scores... via a truly wonderful interpretation of Schumann's "Skizzen für den Pedalflügel"...

For the concluding organ symphony by Josef Klicka,...the gallery organ with its romantic disposition was predestined...The extensive work, dedicated to Camille Saint-Saens, formed the bravura conclusion of this one-hour, very lively organ recital, in which Jan Dolezel playfully maintained the musical tension until the end could hold."