Classical Music Discoveries

This final installment of the organ compositions of Axel Ruoff (born in Stuttgart in 1957) presents two starkly contrasted sides of his musical personality: three of them, for voice and organ, are concerned with the spiritual – two even addressing head-on the issue of death itself – and are thus solemn and hieratic, whereas the concluding work is a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek set of variations on ‘Happy Birthday’, written as a present for Ruoff’s publisher on his 80th birthday.

Tracks

1. Memento creatoris tui for baritone and organ (2001) (12:43)

Messe basse for soprano and organ (2015) (21:15)

1. I. Introitus (6:02)
2. II. Kyrie (5:46)
3. III. Sanctus (2:40)
4. IV. Agnus Dei (6:47)

In Hora Mortis. Sieben Totenlieder for medium voice and organ (2020) (28:31)

1. No. 1, O bleibe treu den Toten (Storm) (7:31)
2. No. 2, Lied der Toten (Werfel) (2:35)
3. No. 3, O Herr, gib jedem seinen eignen Tod (Rilke) (3:55)
4. No. 4, Vergiss mein nicht (von Knebel?, arttrib. Novalis) (3:39)
5. No. 5, Ausgang (Fontane) (1:18)
6. No. 6, Tiefstille (from Psalm 39, transl. Buber) (6:06)
7. No. 7, Selig sind die Toten (Revelation 14:13)

Happy Birthday. Variationen und Fuga grottesca (2019) (16:02)

1. Thema (0:58)
2. Var. 1: Ländler (1:45)
3. Var. 2: Danse populaire (0:27)
4. Var. 3: Marsch (2:26)
5. Var. 4: Andante (0:48)
6. Var. 5: Choral (1:02)
7. Var. 6: Walzer (1:20)
8. Var. 7: Galopp (0:44)
9. Var. 8: Interludium (0:43)
10. Var. 9: Polka (0:32)
11. Var. 10: Grave (1:07)
12. Fuga grottesca (4:10)

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This album is broadcast with the permission of Crossover Media Music Promotion (Zachary Swanson and Amanda Bloom).