Customer Reviews

Wilhem Middelschulte Complete Organ Works (Vol. 1)

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Middleschulte--oh yeah, the guy who wrote that pedal number Virgil Fox always used to play, right? But did you know that the Perpetuum mobile, originally scored for organ and timpani, was actually part of a five-movement concerto for organ and orchestra premiered by the Chicago Symphony in 1906? This reviewer didn't, until reading Bush's informative booklet notes. Bush launches this disc with this warhourse, played cleanly and at a Virgilian tempo. But wait, there's more.....

A lot more, for Middelschulte was, as this recording proves, a Romantic contrapuntist to contend with, with perhaps a bit of a fixation on Bach. His well-constructed Passacaglia, nearly 15 minutes long, begins lyrically, giving imitation of Reubke, Reger, and (of course) Bach, and concludes with a brilliant toccata on Ein'feste Burg and a coda on B-A-C-H for good measure. In a similar vein, the Chromatische Fantasie und Fuge is a somewhat heavier tour de fource of Romantic contrapuntalism, of similar length. Bush notes that it is one of only two works by Middelschulte to be based on an original theme. How many short works Middelschulte wrote, this reviewer knoweth not, but the three little studies on Vater unser fit this category nicely, Not your average Romantic Gebrauchsmusik, however, these pleasing pieces--"Pedal Solo," "Basso Ostinato," and "Canon",--are tightly crafted contrapuntal miniatures, and a nice foil to the concluding (and longest) work on the disc, a Canonic Fantasia on B-A-C-H coupled with a Fuge on Bach themes. what to make of this piece? It is obviously difficult, although Bush pulls it of with aplomb. The Fantasia is a virtuoso contrapuntal effort artfully stringing together no less than 43 variations on the theme and its inversions, but the Fugue is a manic pastiche of Bach themes (and sometimes whole excerpts) contrapuntally interlaced, with snatches of the Musical Offering. B-Minor Mass. Fugue in D Minor, and The Art of Fugue. all of them colliding in the turbulent conclusion of the piece. Bush's playing and the excellent booklet notes give us a glimpse of a most extraordinary composer and performer-perhaps even a genius out of sync with his times-whose active professional life was lived largly in Chicago but whoses musical heart (and publishers) remained in his native Germany. The organ heard in this recording is the large 1995 Konzelman in St. Anne Church, Rochester, N.Y., where Bush is currently organist, and it handles this music well. The quality of the recording, by Joseph Vitacco, is clean and balanced.

Barbara Owen, The American Organist Magazine, October, 2000