JOHANN WILHELM HÄSSLER — Keyboard Sonatas (Michele Benuzzi) 4CD (2016) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

As Michele Benuzzi himself explains in a booklet-essay, the idea for this comprehensive collection came about through the success of his smaller, 1CD survey of harpsichord music by Johann Wilhelm Hässler on Brilliant Classics (BC94293), released in 2012. Since then he has gone on to record no less stimulating Baroque discoveries, of music by Josep Galles (BC95228) and Christoph Nichelmann (BC94809).

J.W. Hässler (1747-1822) is not to be confused with Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612), whose music has hitherto been better nown and more frequently recorded. Born three years before the death of J.S. Bach, J.W. Hässler’s style embraces both the high-Baroque idiom and then the more edgy, episodic pre-Classical style of his sons, C.P.E. and W.F. Bach. Featured here are three published collections, published in Germany between 1776 and 1780 which reveal him moving from one into
the other. Mozart was fairly scathing about him upon the occasion of their one encounter, in Dresden in 1789 – ‘incapable of executing a fugue properly’ – but five years later Hässler moved to St Petersburg where he secured local fame and a small fortune.

Benuzzi has chosen to illuminate the composer’s stylistic journey from polyphony and counterpoint to much more freely composed forms with different instruments. The six sonatas in the 1776 collection are played on a harpsichord, then the 1778 set on a fortepiano and the 1780 ‘Leichte Sonaten’ on a clavichord, both latter instruments based on originals by Gottfried Silbermann, Bach’s favourite maker of keyboard instruments.

Fanfare gave an ‘absolute highest recommendation’ to Benuzzi’s previous Hässler album. ‘He is the ideal interpreter
to bring this music to light: highly sensitive to the gesture and emotion of the music, yet capable of carrying the musical narrative forward in telling fashion.’

The second instalment of the complete keyboard works by Johann Wilhelm Hässler.
Johann Wilhem Hässler lived from 1742 to 1822, the transition of the Baroque to the Classical era. His style embraces the Empfindsamkeit initiated by W.F. Bach and C.Ph.E. Bach and the heritage of J.S. Bach. These different idioms perfectly coexist to create his complex language, however, Hässler progressively abandoned the baroque heritage to develop a more modern style embracing a more classical aesthetic. The works on these 4 CD’s clearly mark the stylistic development of Hässler, from Baroque polyphony and counterpoint to the graceful classical language in Haydn style. Michele Benuzzi uses 4 different instruments, to achieve maximum variety and to follow the stylistic and instrumental progression of the works: harpsichord, clavichord, Silbermann piano and Broadwood piano. Benuzzi’s earlier recording of Hässler (BC94239) received excellent reviews: “a most intriguing composer..admirable performance” (Musicweb) Excellent liner notes by the artist. brilliant
JOHANN WILHELM HÄSSLER (1747-1822)
Tracklist :
Credits :
Harpsichord, Clavichord, Fortepiano – Michele Benuzzi

KREBS — Complete Organ Music (Manuel Tomadin) 7CD BOX-SET (2018) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Johann Ludwig Krebs (Buttelstedt, 12 October 1713 – Altenburg, 1 January 1780) was a favourite pupil of the great J.S. Bach (who regarded him particularly highly, punning on their two surnames declaring Krebs ‘was the only crayfish in his stream’) and a supremely talented inheritor of the composer–organist tradition of the Northern European Baroque. As a member of the last generation of these musicians, he lived in a time of marked shifts in taste, during the rise of the empfindsamer (sensitive) style, with its preference for balance and grace over the high baroque’s interwoven contrapuntal lines and chromatic harmony. For this reason his genius met with little acceptance during his long career, yet despite never securing a prestigious position and salary and never being commissioned to write he composed a significant body of music, particularly for the organ at which he excelled, his skill almost rivalling that of his mentor, J.S. Bach.

Today, long after the stylistic trends of his day have faded, Krebs is appreciated for his exceptionally refined music. For the organ this includes a variety of pieces in several improvisatory and contrapuntal forms, including a great many chorale settings. Thirteen of these come from his Clavier-Übung (keyboard method), the first volume of which was composed for the organ.

Manuel Tomadin has selected three instruments of the Northern European Baroque School, lesser-known than others in their native Germany and Holland and yet of very high quality, plus a modern instrument for the recording of the Clavier-Übung. The latter, built in 2007 by the Giovanni Pradella Workshop in the Italian alpine province of Sondrio, is nevertheless constructed according to ancient techniques in handcrafted hardwood and painstakingly cast and rolled pipes.

Johann Ludwig Krebs lived from 1713 till 1780, a period of transition from the Baroque to the Classical Period. Taught by his organist father he was sent to the St. Thomas School in Leipzig, where Johann Sebastian Bach was his teacher. From 1755 on he was organist at the court of Prince Friedrich of Gotha-Altenberg, a position he held till his death.
Krebs had difficulty in adjusting to the changing musical tastes of his time, which tended towards the Empfindsame Stil and the Rococo. His forte was the “old fashioned” counterpoint, in which he excelled and was only paralleled by his teacher and mentor J.S. Bach, who was full of praise for him, calling him “der einzige Krebs in meinem Bach” (the only crab in my stream).
This new recording of the complete organ works by Krebs uses several historical organs: the Arp Schnitger organ of Noordbroek, the F.C. Schnitger organ of Zuidbroek, the Gottfried Silbermann organ in Freiberg, and a Pradella Organ (2007) of Valle di Colorina. Organist Manuel Tomadin is one of the foremost Italian organists of today, a scholar and passionate musician, with an impressive discography to his name: Husumer Organ Book, Alberti Complete Keyboard Works, and other North German organ masters. brilliant
JOHANN LUDWIG KREBS (1713-1780)
Tracklist :
Credits :
Organ, Recording Supervisor, Edited By, Liner Notes – Manuel Tomadin

MAX REGER — Organ Works Vol. 1 (Gerhard Weinberger) 2CD (2014) SACD Hybrid | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Following the great success of our new complete recording – and the most comprehensive one ever – of Bach’s organ works (German Record Critics Prize for the Year 2009) Gerhard Weinberger now turns to a new edition featuring the organ compositions of Max Reger in performances on selected magnificent organs surviving from the Reger period. prestomusic
MAX REGER (1873-1916)
Tracklist :
CD1 recorded at Thomaskirche Leipzig, March 29-31, 2012.
CD2 recorded at Marienkirche Salzwedel, April 3-4, 2013.
Credits :
Organ – Gerhard Weinberger 
Cover – Christiane Grimm, Design – Lothar Bruweleit

MAX REGER — Organ Works Vol. 2 (Gerhard Weinberger) 2CD (2015) SACD Hybrid | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Gerhard Weinberger has launched a complete recording of Reger’s organ oeuvre on cpo: an auspicious beginning. In this repertoire too, he proves to be an extraordinary interpreter with both virtuosity and discerning nuance. prestomusic
MAX REGER (1873-1916)
Tracklist :
CD1 recorded Dom zu Verden a.d. Aller, September 3 & 4, 2010.
CD2 recorded at Eglise Saint Martin Dudelange, March 31-April 3, 2011.
Credits :
Organ – Gerhard Weinberger 
Cover – Christiane Grimm, Design – Lothar Bruweleit

MAX REGER — Organ Works Vol. 3 (Gerhard Weinberger) 2CD (2016) SACD Hybrid | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Along with other chorale fantasias and chorale preludes, vol.3 of our edition of Max Reger’s organ works presents his Twelve Pieces op.59. These works inaugurated Reger’s series of composite works intended for practical use in religious services. These are the only works by Reger based on Gregorian melodies, which, however in no way evoke modal harmonic structures but are fully integrated into his complex harmonic structures. prestomusic
MAX REGER (1873-1916)
Tracklist :
CD1: Played on the Wilhelm Sauer Organ, Dom St. Petri Bremen (1894)
CD2: Played on the Wilhelm Sauer Organ, Stadtkirche Bad Salzungen (1909)
Credits :
Organ – Gerhard Weinberger 
Cover – Christiane Grimm, Design – Lothar Bruweleit