Oskar Merikanto (1868–1924) made an enormous contribution to music-making in Finland, and to organ music in particular, as teacher, virtuoso performer and authority on performance practice, reforming the approach to the organ in both church and concerthall. It was thought that all of his organ music was known and recorded, but recent discoveries have added a number of previously unsuspected works to his catalogue: a striking concert fantasia, an early funeral march, some pedal studies, a vast series of chorale preludes – some of them beautifully crafted miniatures, others only aphoristic ideas – and an organ transcription of a piano piece by Mendelssohn. This release is timed to mark the centenary of his death, on 17 February 1924.
Works:
•Oskar Merikanto: Fantasia chromaticaOskar Merikanto: Trauermarsch
•Oskar Merikanto: Konzert-Etüden
•Oskar Merikanto: 45 Choral-Präludien aus "100 Chorale Preludes"
•Felix Mendelssohn / Oskar Merikanto: Präludium & Fuge op. 35 Nr. 1