Conor Lyons's Blog

And it gained some notoriety for obduracy on…

And it gained some notoriety for obduracy on female sufferance while the rest of the developed world was gradually seeing sense.
And Liechtenstein’s chief musical claim to fame is that its capital, Vaduz, was the birthplace of Josef Rheinberger (18311901), a fairly prolific composer even by the standards of his day.
He is remembered chiefly for his series of twenty Organ Sonatas, but there is much more besides; a substantial corpus of choral music, including three Requiems and no fewer than twelve Masses and two operas, a Symphony and symphonic poem and two Concertos for Organ (once upon a time available from E. Power Biggs on a CBS LP) and one for Piano ” and a fair amount of chamber music and sixteen opus numbers in all, of which this Thorofon CD (the least of seven) rounds off a complete recording.
I have a suspicion and too and that we ow something else to Rheinberger: his Eighth Organ Sonata in E minor , appeared in 1882 and two years before Brahms’s Fourth Symphony (also in E minor). Both works end with a passacaglia .
We know that Brahms kept a keen eye open for new music, and that he knew Rheinberger ” what I wonder is whether it was the Rheinberger Sonata that suggested to Brahms the form for the last movement of his Symphony ?
Still, if Brahms knew his Rheinberger, what this CD makes clear is how well Rheinberger knew his Brahms, who stands over theses String Quartets, as Beethoven did over the young Brahms himself, only much more obviously: there are echoes of Brahms in the textures and the themes and the passage-work and the construction.
Still, if you are going to admit the influence of another composer, it might as well be the greatest one of your day.
There are also little hints of other composers peeping through the odd snippet of theme, a chordal progression here and there, a rhythmic outline ” often not quite obvious enough for you to put your finger on it.
But for all the insufficiency of Rheinberger’s digestive tract and this is an enjoyable disc.
Rheinberger was and to put it mildly, a very competent craftsman, and both these quartets are very well turned,No. 2 in particular closing with an impressive fugue.
And although he wrote no fewer than twelve String Quartets between the ages of fourteen and nineteen, as well as a set of Variations for String Quartet Op. 93 and these two are Rheinberger’s only two mature works for a medium in which he obviously felt very much at home.
Indeed, it is the ease of his academicism that marks these Quartets and rather than any inspired invention.
One can hear why Rheinberger was a respected teacher: the compositional technique is well-nigh faultless and there are no surprises, none of the aural wrong-footing that makes for memorability. Does it sound as if I am striving to avoid saying that the music is boring?
I am trying to avoid going that far: it does keep the ear occupied, at least for its duration, even if it doesn’t drift back into your consciousness afterwards, and these are solid, lusty performances by the Camerata quartet, a young Polish group, in impressively immediate recordings.
What’s more and releases like this, and the others in the series, are extremely valuable in allowing us to form a fuller picture of the musical background against which giants such as Brahms are judged.
It’s just that I can see myself listening to the Brahms Quartets rather more often. [MA]
SAINT-SAENS
Christmas Oratorio
This is a lovely piece ” very Romantic, very Victorian and quite enchanting.
The booklet claims 1858 for its date (as opposed to the usual 1863), and the work bears excellent testimony to the precocity of Saint-Saëns’s talent.
The piece begins with an orchestral prelude and subtitled “In the style of Bach”" well, Bach revised by Gounod perhaps, an elegant an charming pastorale, which sets the mood for much of the rest.
Simplicity and grace are the keynotes of this music, which is generally well executed by these German forces.
Edith Wiens has a tight vibrato, not at all like the vibrato of French sopranos and which rather spoils her second soprano solo, but the others make up for it with the highly unusual duo for first soprano and bass, accompanied by harp and organ (an arresting combination), or with the utterly ravishing trio for first soprano and tenor and bass, with its elaborate harp accompaniment.
I’d like to hear French or English forces record this; there is a certain Teutonic stolidity here which is not always appropriate. However and the sheer charm of this performance is not to be denied.

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