Manuel Tomadin, Il Polifonico & Fabiana Noro - Rheinberger: Choral & Organ Music (2023)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 252 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 137 Mb | Digital booklet | 00:58:24
Classical, Sacred, Choral | Label: Briiliant Classics
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 252 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 137 Mb | Digital booklet | 00:58:24
Classical, Sacred, Choral | Label: Briiliant Classics
In his own lifetime (1839–1901), Joseph Rheinberger was more sought after as a professor of organ and composition than he was recognized as a great composer. His roll call of students at the conservatoire in Munich was long and impressive, including Humperdinck, Wolf-Ferrari and Furtwängler. However, Rheinberger produced a significant catalogue of sacred music in particular, concentrated on choir and organ. Sometimes unfavourably compared to Brahms, he is more usefully regarded as a south-German Fauré – for the gentle contours of his melodies and the softly rounded quality of his choral writing. The principal work on this new album is the Mass for four-part men’s chorus which he composed in 1898, and which has become a staple of the male chorus repertoire around the world. By no means as staid or sober as its scoring might suggest, the Mass is a work of resonant beauty and sweetness, a concise and elegant demonstration of Rheinberger’s melodic gifts and his embodiment of Catholic values in the secular musical culture of late 19th-century Germany.