It took me a while
to decide whether or not I liked this
CD. The Organ of the Katholische Pfarrkirche
is a grand modern instrument from 2001
by Kuhn, whose booklet picture makes
it look a little like the headboard
from a very heavy Victorian bed. The
Katholische Pfarrkirche looks quite
modest by comparison, and the acoustic
bears this impression out, erring a
little too much on the dry side to smooth
off the gruff edges of this powerful
music machine. The disposition, proportions
and intonation are apparently consistent
with Swiss organ building principles
from around 1850 however, and so we
are promised a measure of authenticity.
Having become accustomed
to the rather ‘in your face’ organ sound,
I found it not inappropriate to the
music presented here. While unwilling
to attempt to find some transitional
category for this music, the booklet
accurately describes it as ‘the attempts
of composers to revive the great traditions
of the Baroque, or reconcile them with
the new expressive and harmonic resources
of Romanticism.’ Forchhammer’s work
is very much grounded in that of J.S
Bach, and this is of course apparent
in his gently restrained Chorale settings.
The Sonate ‘Zur Todtenfeier’
(for a burial ceremony) with which
the CD opens is a far more dramatic
affair, with Lisztian heroism and Germanic
counterpoint contrasting with a kind
of Mendelssohnian pastoral lyricism.
Theodor Kirchner rubbed
shoulders with Mendelssohn and Brahms,
and possibly a little more than just
shoulders with the Schumanns. The works
here are drawn from the miscellaneous
op.89 collection and are largely lyrical
and expressive in character. Pre-echoes
are a delicious feature of these kinds
of pieces: take the first bar or so
of Langsam (track 10), slow it
almost to infinity and what do you have?
Arvo Pärt, or I’m a Dutchman.
Benedict Jucker provides
us with some nice Chorale Preludes –
Bach with a sprinkling of extra chromaticism
here and there, but the jewel in the
crown of this CD is of course the Rheinberger
Mass. Josef Rheinberger was apparently
such a musical Wunderkind that
he was appointed organist at his parish
church at the age of seven. The version
for organ and chorus is the original,
but this work has appeared in an arrangement
for chorus and orchestra; an indication
of the works justified popularity in
the past. While the opening Kyrie
is rich with sinuous chromaticism
many of the other movements are models
of choral clarity and uncomplicated
organ accompaniment. Cantus Firmus are
well recorded and with an ideal balance
between the voices and the organ. Their
tuning is impeccable, and while their
enunciation and articulation is disciplined
and effective, I sense that the conductor
might have gone a little over the top
by bringing out the ‘sss’ consonants
quite so much – good for live performance,
less necessary with microphones in proximity.
Like the dried wreaths
in a Paris crypt, the music on this
CD is tantalisingly evocative. Very
much of its era, the pieces will be
greatly of interest to those seeking
the less well-trodden byways of romantic
organ repertoire, and as such this recording
deserves a firm recommendation.
Dominy Clements
Ursna Caflisch (organ) 
