For some background to this long-running and always beautifully documented
series of gatefold albums, it's best to read
earlier reviews. This is the eleventh volume and
focuses on improvisatory performances by British and German organists.
The first disc is devoted to Welte rolls made by three of the most
distinguished British organists of their - or any - time; Lemare, Hollins
and Wolstenholme. That the company positively encouraged improvisations
seems self-evident given the number of roll improvisations that have been
preserved. In any case both Wolstenholme and Hollins - both were blind -
were famous for their improvisations and they were popular in Germany in the
years before the First World War, as indeed was Lemare, the biggest name of
the three.
Lemare recorded six improvised rolls, varying in length from three minutes
to 13. The first is a veritable study in dynamics, playing of deft
refinement and elegance, whilst he reserves the use of Vox Coelestis for the
second, recorded in 1913, and dedicated to his German friend Karl Bockisch.
Bell and harp effects can be savoured in the third improvisation - it's
droll but with a strong contrapuntal element at work. He was a very strong
fugal player. He plays a thoughtful improvisation on
Old Folks at
Home and introduces one of his gentle baroque-leaning Minuets in the
fifth of the set. The longest work is his salute to Hollins - the theme is
his
Allegretto grazioso and it makes a compelling end to his
selection. Hollins himself contributes a single six-minute work and vestiges
of his old career as a virtuoso pianist seem to have intruded here - listen
closely and you'll hear some Schumann just before the fugal passage. This
roll had been badly damaged and some excellent restoration work has ensured
that it's playable. Wolstenholme left two improvisations, one witty - indeed
genial - and the other very much longer and more revealing stylistically
both of his playing or suggestions of it - this is a roll, after all, not a
disc recording - but also of his compositional practice as well. Contrasts,
registers, colour; this has it all.
The second disc has a variety of German organists. It includes the
earliest German organ improvisation on Welte roll, by Carl Hofner in 1911.
Kurt Grosse's first improvisation, which marries elegance and power, sounds
quite markedly British, so may point to a vogue just before the War for
Lemare-like playing. His other rolls are decidedly Wagnerian - a much more
pervasive influence on the legion of recording German organists. Indeed,
Paul Mania takes things several steps further with an improvised potpourri
on Wagnerian themes - fourteen minutes of Top Twenty hits. Mania also
cleaves to an interest in baroque movements, though in his case he favours
the Gavotte. His fantasia on old Dutch songs is much the most stirring,
striking and refulgent of his improvisations - a marvellous exhibition of
the improvisatory arts. There's a single example from Otto Dunkelberg
recorded very late in the day for a roll - 1937. Finally, Henry Burkard - or
'Dr Svara' as he appears on the roll - provides a real oddity; a silent
movie music soundtrack, in effect, covering all sorts of movie moods. It
makes for a quixotic, amusing envoi.
Once again, at the risk of boring readers, Oehms continues its outstanding
standard of presentation. This Welte series puts out consistently among the
best looking productions on the market today.
Jonathan Woolf
Contents
CD 1
Improvisation on a given theme [8:22]
Improvisation, for my friend Karl Bockisch [3:19]
Improvisation, introducing bell and harp effect [8:56]
Improvisation on the theme
The Swanee River [8:38]
Improvisation in the form of a Minuet [3:15]
Improvisation on a theme by Alfred Hollins [13:00]
Edwin Lemare (organ)
Improvisation [6:14]
Alfred Hollins (organ)
Improvisation [7:07]
Improvisation on
Ich hatt' einem Kameraden [15:46]
William Wolstenholme (organ)
CD 2
Fantasia on a theme [4:03]
Carl Hofner (organ)
Improvisation [5:28]
Kurt Grosse (organ)
Stimmungsbild (Improvisation) [6:11]
Improvisation [6:02]
Fantasia on Wagnerian themes [13:36]
Free Improvisation - Gavotte in the old style [3:35]
Fantasia on old Dutch Songs [9:41]
Paul Mania (organ)
Improvisation on
Wenn alle untrue warden [12:41]
Otto Dunkelberg (organ)
Silent Movie Improvisation
On the Hunt [7:02]
Henry Burkard (organ)
