Lammas
Records
118 The Mount
York YO24 1AS
Romantic composer Joseph
Rheinberger was born in the Principality
of Liechtenstein in 1839, the son of
the Treasurer to the Crown Prince. A
child prodigy, Rheinberger had his first
organ lessons at the age of five and
two years later served as organist at
Vaduz church, at which time he also
made his first attempts at composition.
He had a most successful and highly
productive career which spanned more
than 45 years, composing almost 200
published works. Early during his three
years of formal study at the Munich
Conservatory, he showed remarkable ability
both as a virtuoso pianist/organist
and as a master of counterpoint and
fugue.
He was classed by many
as the finest composer in Germany and
attracted pupils from all over Europe
and the USA. He became a most sought-after
teacher of composition as well as the
organ and established himself as an
eminent music theorist. When the present
Conservatory was founded in Munich,
Rheinberger was appointed to Professorships
of Organ and then Composition; posts
he held from 1867 until death in 1901.
Enjoying the loftiest reputation as
a teacher, Rheinberger’s pupils included
the distinguished names: Humperdinck,
Wolf-Ferrari and Furtwängler. The
Munich Conservatory also bestowed upon
him the distinguished title of ‘Royal
Professor’.
He wrote in a wide
variety of genres including symphonies
and the opera, with a large proportion
of his works composed for the voice;
a substantial number of which were for
liturgical use. Biographer J. Weston
Nicholl writes favourably of Rheinberger’s
choral works stating, "His twelve Masses,
Stabat Mater, De Profundis and many
other examples of church music are marked
by earnestness and deep religious feeling."
It is however rare to hear much of his
output other than the compositions for
organ of which the twenty organ sonatas
are regarded as being particularly important.
The Mass in A major,
‘Missa in Nativitate Domini’ for
three-part chorus and organ, op.126
was composed in 1881 and is performed
here by the spirited female voices of
the Renaissance Singers. The name ‘Missa
in Nativitate Domini’ was given
to the work owing to having its first
performance on Christmas Eve. This highly
optimistic yet profoundly reverent score
is performed with deep respect in a
cleanly focused account by the Renaissance
Singers.
Rheinberger achieved
popular acclaim with his Mass in
F, for four-part chorus and organ,
op.190 which he composed towards the
end of his life in 1898. The male voices
of the Blackburn Cathedral perform the
Mass in F with polish and style
and substantial bite.
Rheinberger described
his Kleiner und leichter Messgesang,
op. 62 as leicht ausfurhbane
(easy to perform) and composed the
work extremely rapidly in 1871. The
performance given here is of the ‘Missa
puerorum’ which is the name given
to a revised Turin edition of 1903.
The girls choir of Blackburn Cathedral
come across as an impressive team ably
interpreting the melodic fluency and
brimful variety of the work with considerable
assurance and affection.
The buoyant and positive
Missa Brevis in F major, ‘Missa in
honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis’ op.117
was composed in 1880. The score, which
has been praised for its sheer quality
of counterpoint writing, is the only
work on the release without organ accompaniment.
The men and boys of the Blackburn Cathedral
choir in the Missa Brevis in F offer
a splendidly characterful performance
of considerable intensity and high on
expression.
The naturally recorded
sound is first class and the concise
booklet notes from the organist Greg
Morris are interesting and informative.
Excellent preferences all-round from
the Choirs of Blackburn Cathedral under
the accomplished direction of Richard
Tanner. This release is worthy of inclusion
in any serious collection of choral
music. A rewarding disc!
Michael Cookson
Greg Morris (organ) 