Christian von Blohn- Rheinberger: Complete 20 Organ Sonatas

New recordings of Romantic sonatas which were once a staple of the church organist's repertoire, Josef Rheinberger's organ sonatas are still overshadowed by Romantic-era composers for the instrument such as Liszt and Guilmant. With a few exceptions, they are rarely heard in concerts today, regarded as 'well-crafted' but melodically uninspired and stylistically 'out of date'. For the German organist Christian von Blohn, however, Rheinberger's sonatas include several outright masterpieces. The cycle of 20 sonatas as a whole demonstrates a memorable engagement with the great organ composers of the past, as well as an ambition to mark out a new territory for the instrument within the Romantic era. Von Blohn has accordingly taken a colourful approach to the crucial matter of registration, which Rheinberger left largely up to the individual player. His performances reject the kind of thick textures with which these sonatas have become identified. While there are many individual highligh