A word of clarification,
or a narrowing of the geographic range,
is necessary here. Of the four composers
on this Guild CD, Jucker and Forchhammer
are Swiss-born, Kirchner is a German
who spent many years in Switzerland
and Rheinberger is a German born in
Lichtenstein. Except for the Mass by
Rheinberger, all the works are for organ
alone, ably played by the Zurich organist
and teacher Ursina Caflisch. The organ
works are further joined together, especially
in the cases of Forchhammer and Jucker,
by a use of Baroque forms and practice,
treated in a Lisztian manner.
A twenty-five minute
organ sonata may not be to everyone’s
taste, especially one that is subtitled
"For a Funeral Service’. But this
piece by a Swiss organist-composer well-known
in his time is far from gloomy, starting
out with a heroic introduction and then
proceeding through a lengthy first movement
partially based on the chorale ‘Jesus,
mein Zuversicht", which is
also set by Forchhammer as one of the
two chorale arrangements accompanying
the sonata on this disc. The second
movement is a quiet, Bach-like interlude,
with parts of the chorale ‘Wachet
auf, ruft uns die Stimme’ appearing,
before leading directly into the third
movement, which also utilizes this chorale
and leads to a cyclic finale that is
both impressive and touching. This is
a discovery worth hearing again.
Unlike Forchhammer,
Theodor Kirchner is still remembered
today, especially in Switzerland, where
he spent thirty years, for his lyrical
and effective miniatures for piano and
organ and his songs. He also wrote some
important chamber works, which have
been surprisingly well-covered by the
record companies. Here we have six excerpts
from a collection of organ works published
in 1890, although some date from earlier
in his career. These are in the same
tradition of late 19th/early 20th century
organ music as the smaller works of
Vierne or Arthur Foote and are equally
attractive. All are amiable and charming,
with tracks 10 and 12 being somewhat
more substantial. Kirchner is not afraid
to make the organ sound as lyrical as
the piano or the human voice, without
forgetting the characteristics unique
to the instrument.
Although I found the
Jucker pieces not as attractive as Kirchner’s,
organist Ursina Caflisch really is at
her best when playing them. Jucker was
the organist at Basle Catheldral in
the mid-19th century and
is best known today for his Fantasie
und Fuge uber das thema B-A-C-H,
which as been recorded in recent years.
In each of the three Choral-Preludes
recorded here Jucker does interesting
things with the chorale melody, putting
it mostly in the pedals in No. 2 or
barely letting it appear in No. 7. This
is well-wrought music, ably using Baroque
conventions, but not nearly as moving
as the Kirchner or Rheinberger selections.
Rheinberger is of course
the best known of the disc’s four composers.
Here we have one of his half-dozen or
so masses accompanied by organ, with
Ms. Caflisch accompanying. Rheinberger
is sometimes claimed or acclaimed as
a proponent of the 19th century
Cecilian movement
in Catholic liturgical composition,
but while definitely influenced by this
movement, his masses vary in how much
they adhere to its principles.
This particular mass,
in F-minor, seems to be more or less
in the middle. It is simple, clear and
reverential, but not lacking drama.
The most beautiful sections are in the
Sanctus and the Agnus Dei.
This mass has been recorded before by
Wolfgang Schaefer and the Frankfurt
Kantorei and one’s choice of recording
may come down to the accompanying selections
on the two discs. The recently formed
Cantus Firmus under Clau Scherrer seem
to be coming together well, although
the Pfarrkirche is not perfectly suited
to this type of choral music.
Ursina Caflisch has
been the organist of the NeuMunsterkirche
in Zurich since 1982. She has made recordings
of organ music by Brahms, Rheinberger,
Franck, Vierne as well as recordings
of twentieth century Swiss music. She
naturally has a complete understanding
of the solo works on this CD at the
same time that she effectively accompanies
the group Cantus Firmus in the Rheinberger
mass. The organ she plays on this recording
is that of the Pfarrkirche in Ilanz,
which though of recent provenance, shares
many of the features of the organs by
Friedrich Haas (1811-1886) that would
have been familiar to the composers
featured on this CD.
William Kreindler
see also
review by Dominy Clements
Ursina Caflisch (organ) 
