Here are 12 more or less self-contained extracts from Wagner’s operas arranged for harmonium and piano duet by Sigfrid Karg Elert (1877-1933). And played not on any old harmonium such as you might encounter in a run-down Victorian chapel but an 18-stop 1928 Victor Mustel Kunstharmonium (art-harmonium). There are 30 of these Karg-Elert Wagner transcriptions for harmonium and piano (plus 40 for organ and a further 40 for harmonium alone). One hopes the fee was a good one and wonders what the sales figures were. Astonishingly, so Pan Classics’ informative booklet reveals, the original commission was for Karg-Elert to adapt
all (!) of Wagner’s operas for harmonium solo, harmonium and piano duo and other harmonium ensembles (eventually, it seems, both Karg-Elert and his publishers agreed that this was probably not a good idea).

By any standard, then, this is a repertoire curiosity and unlikely to be a best-seller; but any cynicism is soon dispelled, first by the sensitive, accomplished musicianship of Jan Hennig and Ernst Breidenbach, and secondly because the two instruments blend together so surprisingly well. It is a combination that works best when sustained tones are called for, such as the Preludes to Lohengrin and Tristan, the latter using the harmonium’s gorgeous harpe éolienne stop and a decided success compared to the few piano solo transcriptions that have been made of it. To accommodate the Chorus of the Flower Maidens from Parsifal and the Funeral March from Götterdämmerung, Karg-Elert offers his own endings; Siegfried’s Death is abridged.

What does not work as well are those numbers when the top line is taken by the louder harmonium reeds (Spinning Chorus from The Flying Dutchman and Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin), giving the unintended impression of Wagner played by a French accordionist who might at any moment burst into ‘Under the bridges of Paris’. Hennig and Breidenbach are a seasoned, empathetic duo and their performances have been meticulously prepared. Furthermore, they have been very well recorded.