WECKMAN Complete Organ Works • Hans Davidsson (org); Ulrike Heider, cond; Sweden Schola Gothia • LOFT 1065–67 (3 CDs: 196:29)

Matthew Weckman was born in Niederdorla, Germany, around 1616, and died in 1674. While familiar to many musicians, he hardly is a household name, even among serious record collectors. Hans Davidsson and Loft Recordings have left no stone unturned in an effort to expose Weckman to a wider public. This really is a labor of love. The packaging and background information are the finest I have seen in a long time. The layout is beautiful. The text is well written. There are two different inserts, either of which would have been satisfying. Davidsson wrote his dissertation on Weckman and the first insert provides highlights of his exhaustive research, and a lifetime of study and performance. This also includes descriptions of each selection on the three CDs. The second booklet gives details on organ registration employed in the 17th century by Weckman and others, and the registration used in this recording. This may sound dry but it is not.

Davidsson places Weckman in historical context: when he learned to play; the experiences that helped him learn to compose; his experiences in Denmark and other stops on his journey through life. While growing up in Dresden, he was exposed to crosscurrents that were reshaping music in Europe, including influences from Italy and England, the Netherlands, and Northern Germany. Davidsson explains how these forces and trends came together for Weckman. And in the recording, we hear the elements unfold, illuminated by Davidsson’s insights. In the process, he demonstrates why Weckman is “without doubt one of the most important musical personalities of Germany in the seventeenth century.”

The music? When I asked an organist friend about Weckman, he laughed, and gave me a one word response: “Boring.” Yes, this is not the most electric music in the world and some of it could be described as boring. But, perhaps prejudiced by the outstanding packaging and recording, I found every section transformed into an insightful window into a faraway world. Many of his organ words are based on chorales and this recording includes these chorales, expertly sung by Schola Gothia. The organ is the North German Baroque Organ, captured in beautiful sound.

I enjoyed this album immensely. It was a fascinating and surprisingly enriching experience. Perhaps more than anything else, this provided new respect for Weckman, and greater appreciation for his role in music history. The recording, like the packaging, is spectacular. Highly recommend, particularly to organists and students of music history.

FANFARE: John E. Roos

Prized for its amazing variety of sounds and for its technical complexity, the organ has been used to celebrate powerful rulers and religious institutions since its invention in the third century BC. This CD presents some of the earliest music written for organ, both sacred and secular, played by a leader in the field of early performance practice.

Complete Track List:
From the Faenza Codex: Kyrie cunctipotens genitor Deus; Bel fiore dança; Or sus, vous dormés trop.
From the Robertsbridge Codex: Estampie: Retrové; Motet: Firmissime/Adesto/Alleluya.
From the Groningen MS: Asperance; Empris domoyrs.
From the Ileborgh tablature: Praeambulum 4/Mensura 1; Praeambulum 5/Mensura 3; Praeambulum 3/Mensura 2.
Untitled, from the treatise De musica arte.
From the Buxheimer Orgelbuch: Redeuntes in la; Praeambulum super f; Praeambulum super mi; Praeambulum super C; Redeuntes in Idem.
Chanson settings: Praeambulum super d; Adieu mes tres belle; Praeambulum 1 from the Ileborgh tablature; J’ay pris amours; Praeambulum super G; Portugaler; Praeambulum super C; Se la face ay pale.
Kyrie de Sancta Maria Virgine.
Gloria de Sancta Maria Virgine.

Messiaen’s artistic mission was to invent new musical languages to explore and portray the mysteries of the Christian faith. These “languages” employed many compositional techniques, including modes of limited transposition, Hindu rhythms, Greek rhythms, plainsong, birdsong, “communicable language,’ and serialism. Born in Avignon to Pierre Messiaen, a Shakespeare scholar, and the poet Cecile Sauvage, Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) exhibited a rare musical talent from an early age. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, where he won five First Prizes- notably in classes with Marcel Dupre, Maurice Emmanuel, and Paul Dukas. In 1930, he was appointed Organiste Titulaire of Sainte Trinite Church in Paris, a position he held until the early 1970s. At the outbreak of WWII, he became a French army hospital attendance, and in 1941 was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp in Silesia (where he composed Quartet for the End of Time). Upon his repatriation in 1942, he was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory. During his lifetime, Messiaen was famed as an organist and pianist and frequently performed his own difficult compositions in concerts around the world. Colin Andrews is an internationally famous concert artist, with extensive experience in the music of Messiaen. One of only four organists to have recorded Messiaen’s complete organ works, Andrews was recently named “Membre d’Honneur” of the Association Grand Orgue Trinite Messiaen, based at Messiaen’s church in Paris.

Music critic Charles Rosen has called Mendelssohn the greatest child prodigy the history of Western music has ever known," which is indeed evinced by the fact that he wrote for the organ from the age of 11. Mendelssohn's less well-known works are receiving new appraisal and attention. This disc of organ gems is sure to excite.

Includes carol(s) by Richard Rodney Bennett. Ensemble: Tudor Choir. Conductor: Doug Fullington.
Includes traditional chant(s).
Includes work(s) by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Robert Fayrfax, Sir William Walton, John Sheppard, Gustav Holst, Peter Warlock.

Powerful and moving … thoughtful and rousing.

This seems to be the sixth CD of Locklair's music to have been published, although individual works of his have appeared on numerous other releases on a number of labels. Two discs of his orchestral music have been reviewed on MusicWeb International in recent years.

The CD opens as it ends, with superb music and musicianship. The title of Rubrics: a Liturgical Suite comes from the Common Book of Prayer, the service instructions (rubrics) of which inspired Locklair when he was commissioned to write the work in 1988. This is reported to be "one of the most frequently played organ works by an American composer" - movements were performed both at Ronald Reagan's funeral and Barack Obama's inauguration. It is certainly an imaginative, striking work, with a particularly breathtaking finale. Locklair's website gives the timing as 11'00, so at 14'00, Keiser is presumably taking this rather more slowly than Locklair envisaged. Unfortunately, there is a noticeable technical 'blip' in the third movement.

The Salem Sonata was a private commission to celebrate the restoration - reassembling, in fact - of a Moravian Church organ originally built in Salem in 1800. The four short movements all bear a Biblical subtitle, and all possess an appropriate degree of dignity and pomp. Another wonderfully tuneful, memorable work. Celebrations - Variations for Organ was inspired by a phrase in the Book of Isaiah: "... thanksgiving, and the voice of melody". The original theme itself does not appear until near the end, when it bursts joyfully onto the scene. A thoughtful and stirring piece, with a glorious ending worthy of Widor, very beautifully played by Keiser.

Along with the Salem Sonata and Celebrations, In Mystery and Wonder ( The Casavant Diptych) was composed in 2003. It was a commission by the Canadian organ builders, Casavant Frères, and according to Locklair's liner-notes, numerous first performances of one or both movements of this work were given around the world on the same November weekend in 2004. To allow a wide range of organists to participate in the premiere, which marked the 125th anniversary of Casavant, the first part of the Diptych, an Aria, is relatively easy to play, with the following Toccata being much more technically demanding. Consequently, both sections may be performed separately. For all its relative simplicity and serenity, the Aria, subtitled 'God Moves in a Mysterious Way ...', is a powerful, moving piece. The Toccata, on the other hand, is a noisy, virtuosic scherzo, aptly subtitled '...His Wonders to Perform'!

PHOENIX Processional dates back to 1996 as a stand-alone organ piece, but it has another existence as part of a work entitled PHOENIX Fanfare and Processional, which began life in 1980 as a bare three-minute Fanfare for brass sextet, and which in 1985 melded with the new Processional for the amended forces of organ, brass quartet and percussion. Locklair describes it as a popular recital and ceremonial piece, and it is easy to hear why - though very simple, the Processional is a rousing work.

The three-movement Aeolian Sonata is dedicated to the spirit of Americans in the wake of '9/11'. It is uplifting and magnificent, appropriately making use of the old Aeolian mode and the notes A and E. The first movement, 'Aus tiefer Not', is pretty much a relentless sequence of huge chords with some melodic flourishes in between, ending with some window-rattling ultra-deep sounds. The second movement, 'Shalom', is a fittingly tranquil affair to follow. The final movement is a boisterous toccata, entitled 'Laudate Dominum'. Locklair's website gives the timing as 12'00, so at 14'34 Keiser is once again taking this rather more slowly than Locklair intended. Nevertheless, as elsewhere on this disc, Keiser's technique and insight are beyond doubt. Unfortunately, the recording of the Sonata is almost spoiled by a very obvious editing join half-way through the second movement.

The CD case is made of card, with a standard plastic tray for the disc. The booklet slides in between two layers of card, the front cover itself, featuring Locklair in a typical pipe-in-mouth pose, and the inside cover, showing a close-up of the organ pipes against a stained-glass window. The booklet itself is a paragon - full notes by Locklair on all the pieces, biographies of composer and organist, a full-page colour photo of the organ and the inside of the church, a description and full specification of the organ, and technical data regarding equipment used for the recording. Much thought has obviously gone into the recording process, and the result is a first-class, very natural sound.

Dan Locklair has written a fair amount of organ music yet to be recorded. On the evidence of this disc, a follow-up CD by Loft Recordings would be doing lovers of sublime organ music a good deed.

-- Byzantion, MusicWeb International