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The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms.

Article Excerpt
The Organ Music of Johannes Brahms. By Barbara Owen. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. [ix, 184 p. ISBN-10 0195311078; ISBN-13 9780195311075. $35.] Discography, index, references, appendices.

Johannes Brahms's musical legacy is built on orchestral, chamber, piano, and vocal music. The best of his works exhibit mastery of form, harmony, and counterpoint and synthesize musical styles from the classical and romantic traditions. Brahms's instrumental music expands on the legacies of Beethoven, Schubert, and Schumann while his vocal music continues a tradition established by Schubert. Some of his lesser known works, however, display a mastery of much earlier styles. It is from these works that Barbara Owen draws her subject.

Among the least widely known of Brahms's compositions are those written for organ, an instrument seldom linked to him. The works are relatively short and appear, at first glance, as mere exercises in counterpoint. The preludes, fugues, and various chorale preludes, despite receiving less attention than some other works, are considerable musical contributions. They occupy a prominent place in the repertoire of organists and are evidence, as Owen demonstrates, that Brahms possessed considerable knowledge of, and experience with, the organ.

Nineteenth-century organ music was driven by two overarching achievements: the technological breakthroughs that allowed for greatly expanded, and colorfully diverse, instruments; and a rediscovery of the repertoire from the baroque period, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Large organs with expanded ranges and tonal palettes enabled composers like Liszt to write complex and virtuosic symphonic...

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