Almasio: Organ Works

Francesco Almasio was an important figure in Milanese musical life in the 19th century and is considered the father of the reform of sacred music in Italy. He was a chapel master and organist at several Milanese churches and the very first organ teacher at the Milan Conservatory: the few surviving manuscripts of his sacred compositions and the published works of his organ pieces provide insight into his daily life as a church musician and teacher. The organist Fabio Nava uses the historic 1886 Bossi-Urbani organ in the Prepositurale Church of Leffe to best reproduce this recording of Francesco Almasio's organ works. In addition to the original compositions, the Milanese composer's organ transcriptions are particularly interesting. In addition to famous pieces such as Eja Mater from Rossini's "Stabat Mater" and the Sinfonia from Giuseppe Verdi's "La Forza del Destino", he arranged two movements from Beethoven's Septet for organ, thereby enriching the sacred and liturgical repertoire of his time with the genre of chamber music.