If you love Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony or Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, then you’re really going to love this piece, which was composed in 1954. Scored for organ, strings, horns, trumpets, two harps, and percussion, it’s a 56-minute symphonic extravaganza full of really haunting melodies (some of them Chant-based) and atmospheric sounds. Petr Eben also was a big admirer of Mahler, and it shows in the music’s overt emotionalism, its wide mood swings, and the bittersweet lyricism of the Adagio. There is absolutely nothing contrived about the triumphant conclusion: it’s a sincere and well-earned victory. By rights the work ought to be a standard repertory item for any orchestra blessed with a decent concert hall organ.
This performance is excellent. Gunther Rost projects the solo part with admirable clarity and rhythmic precision (not an easy thing in organ music), and his coordination with the orchestra is beyond reproach. The Bamberg players under Gabriel Feltz play with real vigor and enthusiasm. Sonically, this SACD balances the organ and orchestra effectively, but like many attempts to capture this particular combination, there’s a strange flatness to the dynamic range–the open room ambience means that the music seems to get “bigger”–but not necessary louder–as it fills the space. Still, the music is so wonderful that it’s not worth making an issue about the engineering. You’ll be thrilled to discover this piece.
