One can only do justice to Joseph Haas’s oeuvre by judging it by what he himself said about the purpose of music: “Music is to delight, not offend; it is to shake up, not shatter; it is to refine, not trivialize.”

Together with Paul Hindemith and Heinrich Burkard, Joseph Haas co-founded the “Donaueschinger internationale Kammermusikfeste für Neue Musik” (Donaueschingen International Chamber Music Festival for New Music) in 1921. The works show the mastery of variation and the peculiarities of the compositional style of Joseph Haas.

Joseph Renner studied organ and composition with Joseph Rheinberger in Munich and worked mainly in Regensburg/Bavaria. He was particularly appreciated by his contemporaries as a composer of spiritual and organ works.

“Der geigende Eremit” (The Hermit Fiddler) from Max Reger’s Böcklin Suite as programme music can be heard on this album, as one of his best-known works, and from the point of view of its content it is almost suitable for a version for violin and organ.

The works for violin and organ, and organ solo, by Joseph Haas (1879–1960), Max Reger (1873–1916) and Josef Renner (1868–1934) are very interesting musical oeuvres, interpreted by the international well-known artist Sreten Krstić.

He has been principal concertmaster of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra since 1992, with Sergiu Celibidache as the orchestra’s chief-conductor, Norbert Düchtel and Ludwig Schmitt, organ.