The penultimate volume of our edition featuring organ works of the Northern German Baroque focuses on the complete organ works of Jakob Praetorius the Younger and Paul Siefert. Hieronymus Praetorius, the organist at the Church of St. James in Hamburg, is regarded as the most important founding figure in the field of independent Northern German organ artistry. Three of his four songs, Jakob, Johann, and MIchael who already in 1604 had contributed a quarter of the eighty-four cantional settings to the renowned Hamburger Melodeyen Gesangbuch, is said to have developed a special form of fingering and pedal technique making it possible for the organist to assume a very relaxed sitting position and corresponding to his serious, sober, personal disposition. According to the music critic Johann Mattheson, Praetorius's works were "mroe serious" and "more forcefully elaborated" than those of his friend Scheidemann.

This is the second volume of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's works for violin and piano. Weinberg's Violin Sonata No. 1 covers the path from C minor to C major, a popular tradition of the time while Sonata No. 2 reveals his increasing creative ambitions. Sonata No. 3, has a lyrical tone which dominates the first movement. The structural design is more economical and grows more elaborately throughout.

As Telemann revealed in his autobiography transmitted by Matheson, during his early years he had become acquainted with "Polish and Hanakian music in its genuine barbaric beauty" while traveling through Poland and had learned to love it. The contrast between folk music sometimes verging on rough simplicity and the court sphere was a source of inspiration and formed a welcome challenge stimulating this composer's talent. The overtures, trios and sonatas recorded for this release display more than virtuosity but are fun to perform and even more enjoyable to listen to.

The Quintet for Piano, Clarinet and String Trio in A major was the last major work completed by Franz Schmidt prior to his death as well as the last of the three quintets written for the pianist Paul von Wittgenstine. Wittgenstine, who lost his right arm during World War I, but in no way withdrew as an invalid as many in his situation did. The Quintet in A major lasts about an hour and sums up the composer's piano ideal. Throughout the work a lyrical piano solo can be heard along with a slow second movement and a grand finale.

Also available: Also Available: Pachelbel: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 1 and Pachelbel: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 3

Being the most important composer of the Southern German organ tradition, Johann Pachelbell's works are featured on this release in an all new recording. These discs are based on a new collection and edition of the extant musical materials. The order of the pieces on the recording initially adheres to the sequence of the chorale settings in the musicological edition.

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REVIEW:

Johann Pachelbel played an important role in the history of keyboard music in Germany in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. As teacher of Johann Sebastian Bach's eldest brother Johann Christoph he has substantially contributed to the development of the younger Bach as a composer of keyboard music. His chorale arrangements and partitas are regularly played by organists, but until recently there was no really good complete recording of his keyboard music. That has changed with the CPO project of which the present set is the second instalment. The first volume included five discs, and after these two there are three more to come.

Johann Pachelbel was born and died in Nürnberg in Bavaria. One of his first teachers was Georg Caspar Wecker. At the age of 16 he entered the university of Altdorf, but was forced to leave it within a year as his father couldn't afford to support him. However, because of his exceptional academic qualifications he was accepted as a scholarship student at the Gymnasium Poeticum in Regensburg. Here he also studied music under Kaspar Prentz, a protégé of Johann Caspar Kerll. Pachelbel was clearly influenced by Kerll, and through him by the Italian style. He worked for some time as deputy organist of the St Stephansdom in Vienna. After this he went to Eisenach - where he established contacts with members of the Bach family - and then to Erfurt to act as organist. Between 1690 and 1695 he worked in the same capacity in Stuttgart and Gotha. In 1695 he was invited to become organist of St Sebaldus in Nürnberg, an offer he gladly accepted. It is a token of his high reputation that no examination took place nor the organists of other churches in Nürnberg were invited to apply for the position. Also the fact that he had many pupils attests to his importance as organist and composer of organ music. It was in Nürnberg that Pachelbel also composed many vocal works, which are hardly known today.

The first disc of this set includes music for Christmastide: here we find arrangements of some of the best-known hymns, which are still sung, such as Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her and Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ. In contrast, Lob sei Gott in des Himmels Thron is hardly known; it is from the pen of Michael Altenburg and was sung only in Thuringia. Vom Himmel hoch is played in two separate arrangements which show in what different ways a composer like Pachelbel could treat the same material. The second has an intimate character; it is the best-known of the two, but is has come down to us anonymously. For reasons of style it is attributed to Pachelbel, but there is no absolute certainty about the authorship. That is the case with quite a number of pieces; copies not always mention the name of the composer, and stylistically a teacher and his pupil could be so close that it is not always possible to attribute a piece to one of them. Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht is often included in recordings of the organ oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach as BWV 1096. It is included in the Neumeister Sammlung, an important source of chorale arrangements by Johann Sebastian and Johann Michael Bach. Michael Belotti, in his liner-notes, suggests that Johann Sebastian may have become acquainted with a fragment of this piece from the hand of Pachelbel and decided to finish it.

Both discs include a number of Magnificat-fugues. Pachelbel wrote around 90 of such pieces which date from his time as organist of St Sebaldus in Nürnberg. The Magnificat was part of the Vespers, and it is often suggested that these fugues were used as intonations to establish the pitch for the singers. However, Belotti comes up with a different explanation: they may have been used as part of the alternatim performances of the Magnificat. "The 12 verses in this canticle were presented in Latin by the choir and organ in alternation, with the organ playing the odd-numbered verses (1, 3, 5 etc) and the choir singing the even-numbered ones. In other words, each agent had six verses to perform. (...) Usually four fugues form a Magnificat cycle in a particular ecclesiastical mode." This means that two verses are missing. Belotti suggests that Pachelbel may have expected organists to improvise short toccatas on the first and last verses.

Fugues take an important place in Pachelbel's oeuvre, as the track-list shows. In contrast to common practice for most of the 17th century, in his oeuvre preludes and toccatas on the one hand and fugues on the other are formally separated. That was also to be the case later in Bach's oeuvre. However, whereas in the latter's output those are mostly connected, in Pachelbel's oeuvre we find quite a number of independent fugues. In this recording they are mostly connected by the performers to a prelude or a toccata.

The first disc also includes a first recording: the Ciaccona in G. It has the same ground bass as the first eight bars of the aria from Bach's Goldberg variations. It has been preserved in fragmentary form and is played here in a reconstruction of the missing parts by Michael Belotti.

The second disc is devoted to hymns based on psalms: Nun lob mein Seel den Herren (Psalm 103), Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält (Psalm 124), Wo Gott zum Haus nicht gibt sein Gunst (Psalm 127) and An Wasserflüssen Babylon (Psalm 137). Some of them are explicitly meant for an organ with two manuals. They are played here at the organ in Bedheim, which is a quite peculiar instrument. In 1711 Caspar Schippel built a single-manual instrument with pedals in the organ loft. A second organ, connected with the console of the main instrument by trackers running along the church loft, was added by Nicolaus Seeber above the entrance to the choir in 1721. Owing to its high location beneath the ceiling, this instrument became known as the 'swallows' nest organ'.

The bicinium Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält (CD 2, track 6) was discovered recently, although its authenticity is not established. The cantus firmus is first played in the upper voice and then in the lower voice. Pachelbel treats the hymn melodies in different ways. Sometimes they are played unchanged, but in other cases they are highly ornamented, in the style of diminutions. Nun lob mein Seel den Herren (CD 2, track 4) is notable for the cantus firmus being in the tenor, which is rather unusual. Another recent discovery is the Aria in G. It is of the kind we know from the collection Hexachordum Apollinis. The present piece includes five variations, one of them - as was common in Pachelbel's arias and chorale partitas - dominated by chromaticism.

This disc again includes some pieces of doubtful authenticity. Above I already mentioned one, and another one is the last item of the second disc, the fugue on An Wasserflüssen Babylon. Belotti suggest that it may be an arrangement of a piece by Pachelbel, made by one of his pupils. Like the first volume this disc includes a piece by Pachelbel's teacher Georg Caspar Wecker, the Fugue in B flat, added to Pachelbel's toccata in the same key (CD 2, track 9).

This is a worthy sequel to the first volume. The fact that several pieces are recorded here for the first time only adds to its value. It shows how important it is that these recordings are based on a new critical edition of Pachelbel's keyboard oeuvre, edited by Michael Belotti. The use of historical organs which are suitable for this repertoire is a precondition for a convincing interpretation. The three organists involved in this recording are all specialists in early music and know how to explore these organs for an optimal performance of Pachelbel's organ music. Thanks to the excellent articulation the musical discourse comes off to the full. The recording team deserves praise for handling the different acoustical circumstances in the two churches.

Organ lovers should definitely not miss this set, and I am eagerly awaiting the last volume which is already in the pipeline.

– MusicWeb International (Johan van Veen)

The oeuvre of Joseph Jongen, born in 1873, carries quantitative weight with its more than four hundred works. However, since his music is relatively little known, it often ends up being compared with works of more famous composers. The three works on this release concentrate on the organ, the orchestra and the interaction between the organ and orchestra.

Following the successful edition featuring Dvorák's complete string quartets, the Vogler Quartet releases more chamber music by this composer. During the course of his life Dvorák penned more than forty works for chamber ensemble. While most of his symphonies are most famous, they were often "sandwiched' between numberous chamber works.

REVIEW:

It is always an unexpected and very special surprise to receive a disc of very familiar works you already have multiple recordings of and have heard countless times, but one of such singular beauty that it causes you to fall in love with the music all over again, as if you were hearing it for the first time. Such is the magic of these performances of Dvořák’s String Quintet in E♭-Major and Piano Quintet in A Major, op. 81—I include the distinguishing opus number here because the composer wrote an earlier piano quintet in the same key, designated op. 5.

I’m not usually at a loss for words, but there’s not much else I can say other than that these are the most enrapturing performances of these two works I’ve ever heard, either live or on record. The balance between the instruments is such that tiny details emerge that one simply doesn’t hear in other recordings.

— Fanfare (Jerry Dubins)

This release extends the extensive Jan van Gilse collection released by CPO. At the Netherlands Music Festival in 1912, van Gilse met with great recognition for his imposing work. Daniël de Lange wrote that the work had originated at a time "during which pieces like 'Wandrers Sturmlied' by Richard Strauss became more popular and Wagner's influence had reached its absolute zenith. In a worthy manner van Gilse's work follows the current musical trend. The orchestration is masterful.

Throughout the early nineteenth century La Clemenza di Tito was Mozart's most popular opera everywhere in Europe. Since he died merely three months after it's completion, he did not live to see how successful the opera became. In keeping with the practice during that time period, it was performed in versions adapted to the times and the taste of the opera public and that is precisely the starting point for the conductor, Alessandro De Marchi. This release is as authentic as possible and quite a delight for Mozart lovers.

This album follows many successful operetta albums released by CPO. This newest addition is Die ungarische Hochzeit by Nico Dostal, a work premiered in Stuttgart in 1939 but rarely performed today. Nico Dostal was very successful both as an operetta composer and a film composer. Alongside this release, Cilvia is regarded as his best operetta music.

Composer Niels Gade ( 1817-1890) is considered to be the most influential Danish musician of his time. He was also a successful teacher, conductor, violinist, and organist. This release is the second volume in the exploration of Gade’s chamber music, and includes his String Quartet in E minor with extra movements, the first movement of a Piano Trio in B-flat major, and Scherzo in C sharp minor for Piano Quintet. “Even in the intricate texture the individual voices remain transparent; the focus on what is essential is more important than everything experimental. The MidtVest ensemble relies on flowing lines, not on leaden ritardandi, on well-rounded formulations instead of roughly delineated blocks.” (FonoForum of Vol. 1).

Robert Kahn was a German pianist, teacher and composer, who wrote a prolific amount of music for chamber ensemble. This release explores his output for violin and piano. Kahn’s style is lyrical and intimate, and resembles the styles of Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms. Finnish violinist Elina Vahala made her concert debut at age 12 with the Lahti Symphony. She was nominated as “Yong Master Soloist” for the 93/94 season with that same orchestra. She is also a founding member of Violin Academy, which is a master class based project for talented young Finnish violinists.

Classical Music

Heinrich von Herzogenberg dedicated these three quartets to Brahms, his friend and musical idol.

The first quartet in G minor is by far the most satisfying. There’s a delightful air of lilting melancholy wafting through the first movement, and although the formal structure is daringly expansive, Herzogenberg manages to mold his wealth of ideas into a reasonably coherent whole. The slow movement is a series of variations on a theme that seems dully predictable at first but is relieved by an accretion of increasingly inventive detail. A tuneful and metrically playful scherzo is followed by a high-spirited, folk-inflected finale that’s only slightly blemished by an overlong coda.

There are charming moments in the two other quartets of the set, though these come fewer and farther between. But just when your patience could begin to wear thin, there’s a delicious dab of instrumental color, or a demonstration of contrapuntal legerdemain that reminds you of Herzogenberg’s worth.

– Gramophone