Today he is not very well known, except among organists. In his own time, however, Joseph Rheinberger was a widely respected composer. The novelties of
Wagner and
Liszt passed him by. Rather, his music had
Bach and early German Romanticism as its models. The melancholy Rheinberger found support from his wife Franziska von Hoffnaass. She was a former student with literary talent, social skills, and
… cultural development. Rheinberger set many of her poems to music. Despite his distaste for the moderns, Rheinberger was an open-minded educator, even tolerating such outspoken "Wagnerians" as Humperdinck and Furtwängler alongside him. Today, Rheinberger is remembered primarily for his choral and organ music. On this CD, too, the organ takes center stage, but as a chamber music partner. The Suite op.149 (trio for violin, cello and organ) alone is more than worth the effort. It is a fine piece of German Romanticism, with already almost the size of a full organ symphony. (HJ)more
