Mendelssohn / Bach / Saint-Saens / Boellmann / Lindberg / Vierne: Organ Music

Featuring

Hans Fagius
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Johann Sebastian Bach
Camille Saint-Saëns
Léon Boëllmann
Oskar Frederik Lindberg

Louis Vierne

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Mendelssohn's organ works form a significant link between J.S. Bach and later Romantics like Liszt, Franck, and Widor.

Interpretation

The version of Mendelssohn's organ works recorded uses editions edited and revised by Marcel Dupré, which differ from Mendelssohn's original in phrasing and tied notes.

Compositional Technique

Mendelssohn's Six Sonatas for organ, Op. 65, show him as an innovator, blending traditional forms like fugue and chorale with a virtuoso, piano-like idiom and symphonic structures.

Composer Biography

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, despite his busy schedule as a composer, conductor, and pianist, was considered one of the leading organists of his time, especially as an interpreter of Bach.

Critical Reception

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's organ music has often been regarded as academic and anaemic, too directly inspired by Bach to fit High Romantic ideals.

Instruments

The organ used for this recording is the 1975 Christensen Organ of Härnösand Cathedral, Sweden, which the performer describes as a successful compromise between baroque and romantic ideals.

Recording & Production

The recordings of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's organ works on this album were made in 1980, before modern, authentic editions of these works became available.