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Franz Lehrndorfer: Improvisations on Christmas Carols

Product no.: Vol. 15
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The "Improvisations on Christmas Carols" were recorded in 1969 on the organ in the concert hall of the University for Music (now: University of Music and Performing Arts) in Munich.

 

This recording does not belong to the usual scheme of Christmas recordings. Even without the usual candlelight and bell romanticism, Christmas songs can have a message, for the musical layman as well as for the professional musician - this compact disc wants to say something to both. 

Lehrndorfer is one of the few artists on the side of so-called "serious music" who carry on centuries-old traditions of improvisation. With his extraordinary degree of musicality and outstanding technique, he develops a distinctive style of improvisation in which every musical thought, as it arises from the moment, can unfold freely and lead to a musical unity.

Lehrndorfer chooses above all the technique of variation, i. e. the melody of the individual songs is framed by counter-voices, also changed and played around itself, or finally remains (similar to jazz) only the basis of a freer development.

The so often kitschy "O du fröhliche" receives here a more joyful than emotional interpretation; the imperceptible coupling with "Silent Night" in the third variation has its special charm. In "Kommet ihr Hirten", the coming of the shepherds is expressed through sweeping running passages full of playful and musical virtuosity. Even such contemplative variations as the one on "Zu Bethlehem geboren" do not slip into the usual cliché; freely added counterpointing voices provide a strong counterweight.

The large-scale improvisation on "Vom Himmel hoch" begins with a harmonically rich introduction and initially processes only the first semitone step of the song melody. From this, the first variation gradually develops with the theme in the upper voice. Gradually more agitated variations lead to the final fugue, which finds its climax and conclusion in a canon led between soprano and bass.

Ulrich Kraus

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