Rheinberger – Three Late Organ Sonatas
Halgeir Schiager (Organ)
THREE LATE ORGAN SONATAS BY JOSEF RHEINBERGER
Three Late Organ Sonatas presents organist Halgeir Schiager in a compelling exploration of three substantial works from the late‑Romantic and early‑modern organ tradition. The album showcases Schiager’s authoritative musicianship, architectural clarity, and deep affinity for large‑scale organ repertoire, captured on an instrument capable of revealing the full expressive and dynamic range of these sonatas.
The three works featured on this recording represent a period in which the organ sonata evolved into a form of symphonic breadth and emotional depth. Each sonata carries its own distinct character—at times introspective, at times monumental—yet all share a sense of structural ambition and harmonic richness that demands both technical mastery and interpretive insight. Schiager brings these qualities to the forefront with performances marked by precision, expressive restraint, and a keen understanding of the repertoire’s historical and stylistic context.
Known for his extensive work with both traditional and contemporary organ literature, Schiager approaches these sonatas with a balance of scholarly awareness and artistic freedom. His interpretations highlight the music’s long‑spun lines, its dramatic contrasts, and its intricate contrapuntal writing, while allowing the instrument’s colors to unfold naturally within the acoustic space. The result is a recording that not only documents three significant works but also offers a renewed perspective on the expressive possibilities of the organ.
Listen
Tracks
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Organ Sonata No. 12, Op. 154
Organ Sonata No. 16, Op. 175
Halgeir Schiager (organ)
Organ Sonata No. 20, Op. 196
Halgeir Schiager (organ)
Credits
- Performer
- Halgeir Schiager (Organ)
- Composer
- Josef Gabriel Rheinberger
- Producer
- Vegard Landaas
- Engineer
- Thomas Wolden
- Editing
- Vegard Landaas
- Mastering
- Thomas Wolden
- Liner notes
- Halgeir Schiager
- English translation
- Marie Haukeland | Verboo Language Services
- Executive producer
- Vegard Landaas
- Booklet editor
- Alison Bullock Aarsten
- PR
- Camilla Momkvist-Skau
- Accounting
- Torgeir M. Landaas
- Artist photo
- Halgeir Schiager by Anna-Julia Granberg
- Design
- Anette L’orange | Blunderbuss
- Recording location
- Sofienberg Church, Oslo
- Recording country
- Norway
- Recording year
- 2024
- Recording dates
- 06.05.2024 | 07.05.2024
- Original source
- DXD (352.8 kHz, 24 bit)
- Discs / tracks
- 1 disc | 12 tracks
- Produced with support from
- Creo – The Union for Arts and Culture | The Norwegian Society of Soloists
- Release year
- 2026
- Label
- LAWO Classics
- Duration
- 1:13:04
- EAN
- 7090020183787
- ISRC
- NOEHX2627010-120
Biographies
Halgeir Schiager
Halgeir Schiager studied organ with Magne Elvestrand in Oslo, and later in Munich and Strasbourg with Professors Franz Lehrndorfer and Daniel Roth respectively. He made his debut in 1985 in Oslo Concert Hall. Schiager has given concerts in many European countries and made radio recordings in Germany and Norway. He has participated in several critically acclaimed CD productions featuring works by Leif Solberg and Kjell Mørk Karlsen, among others.
He has recorded the complete organ works by the Czech composer Petr Eben for the British label Hyperion. In 2001 he received the Norwegian Critics' Prize. He has also premiered works by several Norwegian composers and has served as a jury member in international organ competi tions. In 2008 he earned his doctorate at the Norwegian Academy of Music with a dissertation on interpretative aspects in Gustav Merkel's organ works.
Since 2007, Schiager has served as cantor in the parish of Paulus and Sofienberg in Oslo. He initiated an organ project at Sofienberg Church, which came to fruition in 2014 with the new Eule organ in the German Romantic style. From 2019 to 2024, he was the cantor of Ullern Parish in Oslo and organised an organ concert series in the Paulus and Sof ienberg Churches. He was director of the Oslo Organ Festival from 2018 to 2024.
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839–1901) was a composer, organist and influential teacher born in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. A musical prodigy, he served as organist at the Cathedral of St. Florin in his hometown at the age of seven before entering the Munich Conservatory at twelve. His talent was recognised early: at nineteen he was offered a professorship in piano at the Conservatory, later extended to organ and composition, a post he held almost until his death. His career in Munich encompassed a wide range of positions, including piano teacher at the Munich Music School from 1859, composition instructor at the Conservatory from 1860, solo répétiteur at the Royal Court Theater (1864–1867), director of the Munich Oratorio Society (1864–1877), church music director at the Allerheiligen-Hofkirche from 1877, and royal court conductor to the Bavarian court of King Ludwig II.
His compositional legacy runs to nearly two hundred published works across piano, organ, sacred and secular choral music, chamber music, symphonies and opera. Yet Rheinberger is remembered above all as one of the era's most consequential pedagogues: his "Lehrkurs des Contrapuncts" (1867/68) became standard teaching material for a generation of composition students, and his pupils included Engelbert Humperdinck, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and the American composers Horatio Parker and George Chadwick. He died in Munich in 1901.