Mandy Albrecht

For Anyone who finds the textual/musical idiom of Ein deutsches Requiem difficult to accommodate, this mixture of sacred and secular pieces could serve as a way into the choral music of a very great composer.

The sonatas of 1763 presented here show not only the composer's ability to express personal feelings, but are direct precursors of the great creations of Mozart and Beethoven in the field of instrumental sonatas with obligato piano accompaniment. These passionate works anticipate developments that would appear later in the Romantic era. That alone should be enough to want to listen to them. Period instrument experts Piet Kuijken and Albrecht Breuninger bring this music to life with spontanety and a dash of improvisation - just right for these Sturm und Drang works of original genius.

This series marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Anton Bruckner, which falls in 2024. It’s dedicated to Bruckner’s symphonies, most of them recorded in new transcriptions for organ by Hansjörg Albrecht. This 10th album was made on the organ at Fraumünster in Zürich using Erwin Horn’s transcription of Bruckner’s 9th Symphony and incorporating Gerd Schaller’s completion of the finale, which Bruckner left unfinished.