FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 33/9

Germany (Fax. 0 86 71 50 65 25). This is Volume 21 in Walter's

collection Suddeutsche Orgelmeister des Barock, each

volume of which is devoted to a specific representative of the

South German baroque. That school includes some familiar

names, like Albrechtsberger, Froberger, and J. C. F. Fischer,

and some less familiar ones, like Johann Baptist Vanhal

(1739–1813), a prolific composer who studied in Vienna, was

friends with Haydn and Mozart, and—judging from the present

volume—was an excellent writer of fugues. These works have

none of the profundity of a J. S. Bach, but the fugal concept

is alive in every measure, and it is refreshing to discover,

in any period, a composer with as wide a harmonic palette,

and who is not wedded to bland diatonicism. The selections

have been drawn from some fifty examples published by Vanhal

over a thirty year period, but Walter does not identify the

specific sources. The artificial ordering of the individual

pieces by key follows South German custom well enough--

"Fuga prima," in C, "Fuga secunda," in C minor, etc.--

but two movements had to be transposed in order to fit into

the scheme. The themes are all interesting, especially

that of the "Fuga sexta," which convincingly incorporates

the diminished fifth; but that of the "Fuga duodecima," on

the other hand, is almost too blatently chromatic. The

South German organs of the time had only primitive

pedalboards, and in these pieces, obligato pedal appears only

in the point d'orgue at the end. Many of the pieces also

conclude with a sudden squaring-off of the phrasing—a kind

of bow to a "classical," rather than strict contrapuntal manner.