Joseph Rheinberger - Sacred Choral Works (Charles Bruffy)

Information

Composer: Joseph Rheinberger

• (01) Oster-Hymne, Op. 134
• (02) Vier sechsstimmige Motetten, Op. 133
• (06) Mass in E flat major, Op. 109
• (12) Drei geistliche Gesaenge, Op. 69

Phoenix Bach Choir
Kansas City Chorale
Charles Bruffy, conductor

Date: 2007
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHSA%205055

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Review

From the wide open spaces of Kansas, an expansive reading of a lovely Mass

This is all very lovely, and, no, that is not a euphemism for boring. The composer lives up to his ideal of music as well crafted, beautiful sound, and the performances conform. No jagged edge or incompatible vibration obtrudes upon the perfect blend of choral tone. The style is careful over the shading and shaping of phrases, the effect beneficent and reverential. The programme is similarly comforting in sound and manner, at its centre the Mass, Rheinberger’s acknowledged choral masterpiece, in the comforting key of E flat.

This, too, conforms. The Kyrie has the quietude of faith and righteousness; the Agnus Dei has a certain quality of yearning, yet it is with the mystical aspiration of the faithful who know they are already halfway there. Gloria and Credo move ahead with confident economy. The supremely beautiful “Dona nobis pacem”, by contrast, flows like an ever-rolling stream with Mahlerian reluctance to call it a day.

In an earlier recording (ASV, 6/97), the Choir of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, took a rather different view of it. Almost all the speeds were faster, the Kyrie running at 3'00" minutes to Kansas’s 4'11", the Agnus at 4'24" compared with 7'31". One result is that rhythm becomes a factor in the Cambridge recording whereas the word has probably never occurred as a relevant consideration in the Kansas. I have the feeling that the composer would have found the present performance closer to his intentions; personally, I rather prefer the other. So, yes, I do feel inclined to throw a nod in the direction of those who suspect that beautiful may mean boring, though I refrain from adding an accompanying wink.

-- Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Dec07/Rheinberger_chsa5055.htm
https://www.allmusic.com/album/rheinberger-sacred-choral-works-mw0001857716
https://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Choral-Works-Joseph-Rheinberger/dp/B000VPNK3S

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Josef Rheinberger (17 March 1839, in Vaduz – 25 November 1901, in Munich) was an organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein and lived most of his life in Germany. The stylistic influences on Rheinberger ranged from Brahms to Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert and, above all, Bach. A distinguished teacher, his students included Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Engelbert Humperdinck, Richard Strauss and Wilhelm Furtwängler. Rheinberger was also a prolific composer. His works include twelve Masses, a Requiem, a Stabat Mater, several operas, symphonies, chamber music, and choral works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Rheinberger

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Charles Bruffy (born 1958) is an American choral conductor. He is artistic director of the Kansas City Chorale (since 1988) and is Chorus Director of the Kansas City Symphony (since 2008). Bruffy received his bachelor's degree in piano performance from Missouri Western State College, and a master's degree in vocal performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri. He began his career as a tenor soloist for Robert Shaw (conductor), and was encouraged by Shaw to become a conductor. Bruffy has taught at the Westminster Choir College Summer Conducting Institute since 2006.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bruffy

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