James Hammann - Dudley Buck Organ Music (2009)

Dudley Buck (1839-1909) was one of the most important American composers for the organ of the 19th-century, and his music is not only now relatively frequently heard in the USA but also is encountered in European recital programmes from time to time. He was a genuine master of the instrument, and the two major works on this outstanding new CD demonstrate that he was an original voice in American music of the period. His early Continental training at Leipzig and Dresden meant he could not fail to come under the influence of Mendelssohn - which we can observe in the splendid Opus 22 Sonata (a most winning Scherzo), but also of Bach - the lengthy subject for the concluding Fugue in that work is superbly worked, but the one-time immensely popular Star Spangled Banner variations prove that he was one of the first genuinely American composers who looked to their native land for inspiration. I am certain that Charles Ives would have known Buck's work, which may well have inspired his own Variations on 'America' (see the feature analysis of that score in this issue starting on page 26). The Second Sonata is even more individual than the first, although it is less immediately appealing on the surface, and the Pedal Studies are worth consideration as expressive music other than mere technical exercises.

In James Hammann we have an organist-scholar of the highest quality and his performances throughout are uniformly of an exceptional standard. He plays the E & GG Hook organ dating from 1863, now beautifully restored in Quincy, Illinois. It is a perfect instrument for this music, and the recording quality by Peter Nothnagle is most excellent. The striking cover - a 19th-century painting of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California - is also worth mentioning. This is, in its way, a most important record and I commend it very highly indeed.