Raphael: Organ Music, Vol. 1

Featuring

Ville Urponen
Günter Raphael

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Recording & Production

This album features the first recordings of Günter Raphael's Fantasie und Fuge, Partita, and Passacaglia, Op. 41.

Performer Biography

Ville Urponen, the organist on this recording, has performed the entire organ output of J.S. Bach in Helsinki and played opening concerts for the Bach organ at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Raphael's music engages in a continuous dialogue with tradition, evolving from late Romanticism to a more personal style, later incorporating twelve-note methods while retaining traditional tonality.

Historical Context

Raphael's promising early career was cut short in 1934 when he was dismissed from his post in Leipzig due to the rise of the Nazi Party, which categorized him as a 'half-Jew'.

Composer Biography

Despite being banned from performance during the Nazi regime and battling tuberculosis, Raphael continued to compose prolifically throughout this difficult period.

Composition History

Raphael's Op. 41 works, including Fantasie und Fuge, Partita, and Passacaglia, are based on Finnish hymn-tunes and were dedicated to organist Elis Mårtenson, who premiered them in 1940.

Composer Biography

Günter Raphael, born in Berlin in 1903, was the son of composer Georg Raphael and grandson of composer Albert Becker, whose students included Sibelius.