Product Description

Celestial Harmonies continues its tradition of presenting a special collection of Christmas music in Celestial Christmas 5, a beautiful and moving collection of seasonal organ music performed by Professor Franz Lehrndorfer on the new organ in the Dome Frauenkirche at Munich, Germany. It is, without doubt, one of the largest and most technically sophisticated organs ever built and is considered a sonic spectacular by those who have heard it. This awesomely powerful and moving sound is produced by 7,165 pipes ranging in height from two millimeters (less than 1/10 inch), to the largest, an incredible eighteen meters (approximately sixty feet), making the organ's overall size comparable to a six story building. At a cost of millions of dollars, the organ was built over three years as part of the first major reconstruction work performed on the Dome since the devastating bombing of World War II. This truly historic and innovative digital recording is the first made on the new organ. Completed over the course of three weeks by lifelong friends, engineer and producer Ulrich Kraus and Franz Lehrndorfer, it was recorded at night with the organ's master builder, Georg Jann, constantly on hand to provide tuning expertise. Through his classical variation and compositional techniques, Professor Franz Lehrndorfer articulates the music of Boehm, Bach, Murschhauser, Metsch, Gruenberger, Guilmant, and Karg-Elert, as well as his own compositions. Boehm helped to develop the Choralvorspiel, or Choral Prelude, and so influenced and taught much to Bach, who superseded the labors of his predecessors and contemporaries. Two of Bach's Choral Preludes, BWV 605 and BWV 608, are included in this outstanding release.