Cantilene (from Sonata 11)

The works of Josef Rheinberger, a composer who was considered to be the equal of Brahms and Bruckner in his lifetime, were once widely performed but his twenty organ sonatas are almost all that remain known of his oeuvre today. A professor of the Munich Conservatoire and for many years organist of St Mark’s Church in the city, Rheinberger was a prolific composer in many genres. His Organ Sonata No.11 was composed in 1887; the second movement of this sonata, the Cantilene is one of his most popular pieces. A deeply romantic and sentimental movement, the pizzicato bass line, fluid chords and singing melody are reminiscent of the Air from Bach's Suite No. 3.

Rheinberger's conception of his ideal instrument seems to correspond with that of the great German organ builders of the late nineteenth century. The Sauer organ at the Lutherkirche in Chemnitz, although built after his death, is very much built along those lines; the specification not too far removed from that which Rheinberger created for the organ at Vaduz in his native Liechtenstein. Many organists use a tremulant in this movement but, for me, it sounds equally beautiful without which is just as well - this instrument has no tremulant!