The Naxos complete series of Rheinberger’s Organ Works is
speeding up as it nears completion, with an interval of less than
a year since the issue of Volume 6. The final volume, Volume 8
(8.570315) is already advertised as I write this review. This
contrasts favourably with a gap of four years between Volumes
5 and 6.
The characteristics of this series, both of Rheinberger’s
music and Rübsam’s performances, are well known by now – they’re
outlined in my review
of Volume 6 last year. Like the earlier works, the two sonatas
on the new CD have moments of what the notes refer to as ‘a
bold and virtuosic style’ but they don’t make for instant
gratification. They may not now be ranked as highly as they
were in the 1904 edition of Grove’s Dictionary, where
they were hailed as ‘undoubtedly the most valuable addition
to organ music since the time of Mendelssohn’. They do, however,
benefit from repeated hearings and they benefit from Rübsam’s
undemonstrative but effective playing, with plenty of power
behind it where appropriate.
Interpolated between the two Sonatas on this recording
are two shorter works with Bach connections. The very key
of the Prelude and Fugue in d minor (tracks 4-5) is
suggestive of Bachian influence, though now, of course, the
weight of scholarly opinion is against JS’s authorship of
the work in that key, BWV565. (One wonders what unknown
composer of that age could have composed it and what undiscovered
masterpieces he may have written.) Though a student work and,
as Keith Anderson’s notes point out, ‘couched in the familiar
idiom of German organ music’, it’s well worth hearing; he
had been, after all, something of a child genius, so it’s
by no means put to shame in the company of the later music.
In fact, it’s only the Prelude which is in d minor
– the ensuing Fugue is in the major key.
I was less taken by the six Monologues –
they do have their moments of languor – but, as this is the
only currently available recording of them, their presence
on the CD is certainly justifiable. The sixth piece, Largo
espressivo, in b (tr.11) is based on the chorale O
Haupt voll Blut und Wunden which Bach employs in the St
Matthew Passion and in many other places; you’ll have
to listen very attentively, however – the theme is ‘hidden’
in a pedal part around which the manuals weave some delicate
ornamentation.
As before, Wolfgang Rübsam makes a good case for
all the music here and the versatile Fulda Cathedral instrument
ably assists, as do the engineers, who create a credible sound-picture.
With notes of the usual high quality from Keith Anderson and
the full specification of the organ, this makes a worthy successor
to the previous volumes. I’d have welcomed the registrations
for the individual movements and the history of the Fulda
organ, the lack of which, other than an indication of those
pipes which date from 1877 and those which were restored in
1994, Michael Cookson lamented in reviewing Volume 5 (8.557184)
– see review
– otherwise just about everything is as it should be.
Brian
Wilson
