Hansjörg Albrecht, Fraumünster, Zürich, Switzerland

Oehms OC485 [53:26, 48:06]

★★★★★

The Ninth Symphony is the feature of this final volume of Hansjörg Albrecht’s remarkable Bruckner Project. This final incomplete work is tainted with the premonition of death. That theme is expanded with two supplementary works: an arrangement of the Libera me from Bruckner’s Requiem and a new Chorale Prelude on ‘Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir’. Phillipp Maintz describes his new commission as ‘A witch’s cauldron – an expression of the fear of death for Bruckner’. It certainly creates a pretty dark and unsettling atmosphere before the listener is immersed into Bruckner’s final opus. The choice of a French-voiced instrument (by Kuhn) is at odds with the rest of the series. Unlikely, it may seem, until one witnesses on this recording the true transformation of orchestral symphony into a convincing solo organ work. Albrecht’s aim for this project has been to present Bruckner, via symphonic transcriptions, as a counterpart to the heavyweights of the French symphonic organ tradition. For this ambitious series to be capped by a genuine transformation of transcription into proper organ repertory is a master stroke.

This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2024 issue of Choir & Organ. Never miss an issue – subscribe today