<\/p>\n
Merkel organ works, vol. 1<\/p>\n
The German composer Gustav Merkel has been the main interest of Norwegian organist Halgeir Schiager the last couple of years. This interest has resulted in a pioneer doctorate thesis on the composer\u2019s organ works, and four CD recordings.<\/p>\n
Gustav Merkel was one of the truly great romantic composers and virtuosos of the organ in the 1800s, but his name is virtually forgotten today. The organist Halgeir Schiager, particularly known for his complete recordings of Petr Eben, want to change this situation. Schiager has followed in the footsteps of the organ virtuoso, and here presents the first of four releases recorded on instruments like the ones the composer himself used.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The German composer Gustav Merkel has been the main interest of Norwegian organist Halgeir Schiager the last couple of years. This interest has resulted in a pioneer doctorate thesis on the composer\u2019s organ works, and four CD recordings.<\/p>\n
In his own time Merkel was one of the most popular organ composers in Europe and the USA. As a young teacher in Dresden, he came into contact with Robert Schumann and participated in his Verein f\u00fcr Chorgesang. In addition he received organ lessons with J.G. Schneider, himself a part of the living organ tradition with roots back to J.S. Bach. In 1860 Merkel was given his first important position as organist at the Kreuzkirche \u2013 with one of the best instruments of Dresden at his disposal. I 1864, despite his Lutheran background, Merkel was hired as organist in the catholic Hofkirche.<\/p>\n
Much of the key to Merkel\u2019s success was the interest from good publishers and his dedications to the foremost organists at home and abroad. The interest for Merkel\u2019s music dropped dramatically in the early 1900s when a growing interest for recreating the renaissance and baroque organs and music completely eclipsed the contemporary scene.<\/p>\n
In the early Fantasy and Fugue we hear a rich tonal language, reminiscent of both the more lyrical movements of Mendelssohn and Bach. Bach was of course a major re-discovery at the time, and the tradition after him is also heard in the Choral Preludes, Sonatas 2 and 3, and of course in the Fuga on B-A-C-H. The sonata for four hands, op. 30, reflects the great popularity of this genre in Sachsen, and is the only one of Merkel\u2019s pieces that is still to be found in concert programmes.<\/p>\n
In 2008 finished his pioneer work on interpretational aspects of Merkel\u2019s organ works. As a part of this project he recorded much of the composer\u2019s works, including pieces that have never been released before, on instruments of the same type that Merkel himself used. This material is now to be released on four separate CDs. Halgeir Schiager has studied professor Franz Lehrndorfer (Munich) and professor Daniel Roth (Strasbourg). He has previously recorded the complete organ works of Petr Eben for Hyperion.<\/p>\n
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\u2013 This well performed and recorded set is a significant contribution to the romantic organ catalogue, and will hopefully give a justified boost to this composer\u2019s wider representation in today\u2019s concert programmes. [Dominy Clements \/ MusicWeb]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[180],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-424","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-simax-classics","7":"product_shipping_class-cddvd-shipping","8":"uni_artist_tag-bjorn-boysen","9":"uni_artist_tag-gustav-merkel","10":"uni_artist_tag-halgeir-schiager","11":"uni_main_artist_tag-halgeir-schiager","12":"uni_artist_genre-classical","13":"uni_artist_genre-organ","15":"first","16":"instock","17":"taxable","18":"shipping-taxable","19":"purchasable","20":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=424"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grappa.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}