Organ Works of Johannes Brahms (1833–1897), Scott Hanoian, Washington National Cathedral. JAV Recordings, JAV 170;
<www.pipeorgancds.com>.
Eleven Chorale Preludes, op. 122: 1. Mein Jesu, der du mich; 2. Herzliebster Jesu; 3. O Welt, ich muss dich lassen; 4. Herzlich tut mich erfreuen; 5. Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele; 6. O wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen; 7. O Gott, du frommer Gott; 8. Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen; 9. Herzlich tut mich verlangen; 10. Herzlich tut mich verlangen; 11. O Welt, ich muss dich lassen. Prelude and Fugue in A Minor; Prelude on “O Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid”; Fugue in A-flat Major; Prelude and Fugue in G Minor.
It has been said that the Eleven Chorale Preludes are a summation for Johannes Brahms of “last things.” Written in the last year of Brahms’s life and published after his death as his opus 122, they were composed in the summer and the fall of 1896, shortly after the death of his lifetime friend, mentor, advisor and fellow musician Clara Schumann. How can one sum up the importance of Clara Schumann in the life of Johannes Brahms? It would be equally as difficult to sum up the impact of Bach on the lives of people who love and play the organ. Just as Brahms may have been influenced by events in 1854, with an attempted suicide of Robert Schumann, and his own mother’s death in 1865 when he produced Ein deutsches Requiem, so it can be posited that Brahms was so moved to write his Eleven Chorale Preludes on the death of Clara Schumann and with awareness of his own impending death.
Thus, all of the chorale tunes have to do with “last things” and the gentle acceptance, as in the German Requiem, that all creatures that are mortal will die. Just as the German Requiem is meant too as a comfort for the living, so too do the Eleven Chorale Preludes treat these most profound issues with comfort, clarity, and conciseness of form. Further, all are treated with not only a complete understanding of the Baroque chorale prelude style as exhibited by Scheidt, Buxtehude, Bruhns, and of course J. S. Bach, but all have the rich harmonic language of late 19th-century German romanticism and of the harmonic turns and style of Brahms that prove to be a rich synthesis of these two great traditions.
Also touching on the idea of “last things” in this recording are two further intersecting stories that also have to do with final chapters. The organist is Scott Hanoian, who at the time was the assistant organist and assistant director of music at Washington National Cathedral. Soon after the completion of this recording, Mr. Hanoian accepted a new position as director of music at Christ Church, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he now leads an extensive music program and presides over a relatively new instrument from Harrison & Harrison from Durham, England.
The second story is the organ itself. Built in 1938 by Ernest M. Skinner, the original design of the organ for the cathedral called for the instrument to adequately fill the smaller space of the present day choir with organ tone. At that time, Washington National Cathedral was a much smaller building, and no one knew if or when the plans for the grand cathedral would ever be finished. Such was the case of many buildings that were part of a larger plan. The building where Hanoian now presides in Grosse Pointe, Michigan is a permanent church, yet when it was constructed in the early 1930s it was intended to be the chapel of a much larger building that will now never be built. All that remains of that grand plan is a painting of the grand edifice, which hangs in the undercroft of the church, not far from the subdivision built in the 1940s that claims the land for the unfulfilled structure.
Washington National Cathedral was much more fortunate. After World War II their grand plan was realized, and it became apparent to all that the initial Skinner organ would not be sufficient to the size and to the tastes of a new generation of organists and musicians who were more influenced by G. Donald Harrison’s ideas than those of Ernest M. Skinner. Changes came to the venerable Skinner organ over the years, from a new console in 1958, two “Baroque” additions in 1963, a trompette en chamade above the high altar, and further work from 1970 to 1975, with the addition of more than 7,000 new pipes, bringing the size of the instrument to nine divisions and 10,650 pipes. An organist has to know the instrument very well and have “lived with it” to know its heritage and lineage, to know where Mr. Skinner left off and Mr. Whiteford from Aeolian-Skinner, along with others, picked up. This is the advantage of having a recording on an instrument played by an incumbent who had come to not only know the instrument but love it for all of its strengths and its weaknesses.
Now the cathedral is embarking on another project involving two famous builders who will totally change the sound of this instrument forever. Both are firms of the highest artistic quality, and the cathedral is getting two new organs: in the east section a totally new instrument by the Dobson Pipe Organ Company of Lake City, Iowa. Dobson says it will utilize the best of the present instrument, but as the organ program notes state: “ . . . but newly refigured and at a fitting size.” All that is known to the general public is that most of the new instrument will be placed behind the grand case fronts that exist in the choir. In the west gallery, a totally new instrument by Casavant Frères of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec will be the counterpart of the east choir organ, and both instruments will be able to be controlled by a new console in the choir. All of this will be happening by the year 2011. Work and planning on these instruments have already begun.
That being said, the “last things” aspect of this recording are united; the last substantial works of Brahms played on in instrument that for all intents and purposes will no longer exist, from a young musician who came to know and love it and has himself left a final musical statement in this recording before he has moved on.
I think it is fair to say that many of us who buy organ recordings take into consideration three factors: the music, the performer, and the instrument. Here is a perfect synthesis concerning the music of Brahms and these chorale prelude works that so many organists have always considered an essential part of their repertoire. In this recording, Hanoian uses almost exclusively the Ernest M. Skinner organ at Washington National Cathedral, letting the later massive editions remain silent. It is a wise choice, and the playing here is seamless, with a wonderful late romantic legato and just the right amount of tempo rubato that are the hallmarks of the romantic keyboard style. Yet with the sumptuous legato that Mr. Hanoian exhibits, there is always clarity of line; the tender Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen, in some ways the most elusive of the set with the tune hidden in one of the inner voices surrounded by layers of accompaniment, is clearly heard in the beautiful voicing of the Skinner stops. Even in the more strictly contrapuntal works, such as the more fugal Mein Jesu, der du mich or the first of the O Welt, ich muss dich lassen settings, there is no lack of clarity in the style of playing or in the choice of registration. In these eleven chorale preludes there is a lifetime of musical experiences summed up by one of the greatest composers of the Romantic period. Hanoian plays this music with a depth of understanding and sensitivity well beyond his years, truly impressive for such a young musician. He has made a true connection to this music and to the richness that is found from bar to bar.
Also included are early works. We know now how very critical Brahms was of his own writing and that he destroyed up to 20 (!) string quartets before the publication of his very first quartet, or how he labored for more than fifteen years on his first symphony, and that even his first piano concerto began its life planned as the first symphony. How many organ works have not come down to us because Brahms felt they were not worthy?
The early Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, written in 1857 and dedicated to Clara Schumann, is one of the works that he did feel was worthy to be preserved, and is in the strict contrapuntal style based on the Baroque models that Brahms admired so much. This work also is played using the full resources of the cathedral Skinner organ, and on hearing it one wonders how anyone could have felt the sound of that early instrument to be inadequate in any way. Again, Hanoian plays this work with grandeur and with the expansive sweeping 19th-century style that is so very much at home on the Skinner organ.
This is another fine project of JAV recordings, a label that has specialized not only in organ recordings, but in documenting important instruments and making of them an audio portrait for future generations. How important it will be for archival purposes to have these recordings, especially after instruments have been changed, altered, or restructured well beyond their present day configurations. Then add to this a young musician like Scott Hanoian, who lived with the instrument and also had a great affection for it. Those of us who have loved and played particular instruments know exactly what it means to have that type of close musical collaboration with keyboards and pipes that is difficult to describe to non-organists. Hanoian’s playing takes full advantage of his knowledge of the instrument. This recording is a fine tribute not only to this organ and to the music of Brahms, but also to Scott Hanoian and his artistry.
—David Wagner
Detroit, Michigan
