Rheinberger: Kammermusik mit Orgel
Chamber music with organ is a rarity among the musical repertoire. Scarcely a composer has dared to attempt to compose for the charming and challenging combination for solo strings and organ. All the more significant is the contribution of Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, the composer of the Court of Munich, who knew the sounds and colors of the organ like almost no other of his contemporaries, and who knew how to employ them in the "mellifluous art of setting tones." The Suite op. 149 [a "piano trio" with organ, instead of piano], die Drei Stücke op. 150 for violoncello and organ and the Suite op. 166 for violin and organ are romantic character pieces and are - especially inthe suites - sensitive adaptations of baroque form types. They open up an especially attractive world of sound.