Feliks Nowowiejski - Complete Concertos for Organ, Vol. 2 (Rudolf Innig)

Information

Composer: Feliks Nowowiejski

1. Marche solennelle pour orgue: Tempo di marcia
2. Entrée solennelle pour orgue: Maestoso
3. Concert pour orgue et ensemble, Op. 56/3: I. Preludio. Allegro vivace
4. Concert pour orgue et ensemble, Op. 56/3: II. Choral. Maestoso
5. Concert pour orgue et ensemble, Op. 56/3: III. Ontroduzione e variazione. Molto tranquillo
6. Pièces pour orgue, Op. 31: No. 1, Dumka. Andante lamentabile
7. Pièces pour orgue, Op. 31: No. 2, Preludium. Adoremus - Tranquillo, quasi recit
8. Pièces pour orgue, Op. 31: No. 5, Friede, schönstes Glück der Erde
9. Pièces pour orgue, Op. 31: No. 10, Rosa mystica. Andantinoi con espressione
10. Concert pour orgue et ensemble, Op. 56/4: I. Maestoso Solenne. Allegro con spirito
11. Concert pour orgue et ensemble, Op. 56/4: II. Andantino scherzando
12. Concert pour orgue et ensemble, Op. 56/4: III. Finale. Tranquillo e misterioso con moto
13. Prélude pour orgue: Moderato
14. Elévation pour orgue, Op. 2/2: Tranquillo e cantabile
15. Fuga pour orgue: Un poco con moto
16. Offertoire pour orgue, Op. 7/2: Moderato (Choral)

Rudolf Innig, organ

Trompetenensemble Joachim Kluge

Date: 2017

Label: Musikverlag Dabringhaus und Grimm

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Description

Discographic Feat

A few years ago Rudolf Innig accomplished a grand discographic feat with his complete recording of the nine organ symphonies of Felix Nowowiejski, thereby rehabilitating an almost entirely forgotten master of late romantic organ sound. He later presented a recording of smaller-format organ compositions by Nowowiejski. The four “Concerti” recorded here conclude this valuable edition now for the first time presenting the Polish master’s complete organ oeuvre on CD on MDG.

Concerted Effort

Those who expect an orchestra for the concerto form are in for a genuine surprise. Innig employs the magnificent Sauer organ in the Bremen Cathedral with so much color that the strings and winds will not be missed for a single moment. In harmonic respects they are also highly ambitious. Why Nowowiejski entitled these large-format, multi-movement works “Concerti” must remain speculation. Might he have been apprehensive about extending the number of his symphonies beyond the magical “Number Nine”?

Personal Chronicle

Nowowiejski composed his concertos during difficult times. World War II had just begun with the German army’s invasion of Poland, and the composer, who had developed close ties to Germany over the years, became a professional and personal outsider under the new regime. It is thus hardly surprising that these works repeatedly display autobiographical elements – even if the consoling optimism of the fourth concerto of Easter orientation appears to be somewhat premature in view of the year of its composition in 1941.

Interpretive Finesse

Nowowiejski also achieved great things in pieces of small format. Whether the Chorale Prelude (op. 9) or Character Pieces (op. 31), whether pieces for religious services (Offertoire) or suitable for concert performance (Marche solennelle) – again and again he found individual forms of expression that Rudolf Innig succeeds in interpreting with profoundly felt musical sensibility. And, as always on MDG, the finely balanced sound picture in the magnificent acoustics of the Bremen Cathedral makes for an absolutely enthralling musical experience.

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Feliks Nowowiejski (7 February 1877 – 18 January 1946) was a Polish composer. Born in Barczewo, Warmia, he studied music at Święta Lipka and in Berlin before becoming artistic director of the Kraków Music Society from 1909 to 1914. In 1919, he settled permanently in Poznań, where he taught at the conservatory, directed choirs, conducted concerts and promoted musical culture. His extensive output encompassed oratorios, symphonies, symphonic poems, concertos, chamber and choral works, songs, ballets and opera. During the Nazi occupation, he hid in Kraków before returning to Poznań, where he died in 1946.

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Rudolf Innig (born 7 June 1947) is a German organist. He studied organ, piano, church music, music education and musicology in Detmold, Cologne and Paris, working with renowned teachers including Gaston Litaize and Michael Schneider. Innig has received several competition prizes and awards for CDs featuring complete organ works by composers such as Brahms, Mendelssohn, Messiaen and Rheinberger. He has performed widely in major European and American venues. Since 2012, he has lived in Bielefeld as a concert organist. His research on Anton Bruckner led to organ transcriptions and a 2022 doctoral dissertation.

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