Friedemann Johannes Wieland: ORGELMUSIK DER ROMANTIK

Friedemann Johannes Wieland - Organ

With "ORGELMUSIK DER ROMANTIK" ("Organ Music of the Romantic Period"), Münster Cathedral organist Friedemann Johannes Wieland presents for the first time a cathedral organ CD exclusively featuring organ music from the Romantic period: with French organ romanticism and two sonatas by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

The connecting element between the works is the form of the chorale, which is utilized in Mendelssohn's Sonata in A major as a bass cantus firmus, in Franck's Choral in A minor as an evolving fundamental principle, in the "Pièce héroïque" as a conclusion, in Boëllmann's "Suite gothique" as the opening piece, and in Lefébure-Wély's "Chœur" as a stylistic device. In the final movement of Mendelssohn's Sonata in C minor, the fugue theme also appears chorale-like.

It is also fascinating to consider that the connection between Franck's "Choral in A minor" and Mendelssohn's "A Major Sonata" can be traced back to their shared ideal, Johann Sebastian Bach: Mendelssohn's admiration for Bach is reflected not only in his use of the fugue form but also in Franck's allusion to Bach's Prelude BWV 543.

These works also showcase the restored splendor of the main organ, thanks to the cleaning of the pedal towers carried out for the first time in 2012 and the general tuning. Additionally, it's worth noting that 75 percent of the pipe material in today's main organ of the cathedral was reused from the previous organ, which in turn came entirely from the 1856 organ.