TRUMPET ORGAN - Naxos Music Library

cultures: Messiaen was fascinated by the rhythmic
variety of Indian music, while Takemitsu connects the
Asian way of thinking to the western avant-garde.
The composition „Paths“ from 1994 is devoted to
Witold Lutoslawski, with the trumpet played open
and closed. Imagine a dialogue between the action
taking place in the here and now, with answers
coming from different, detached sphere.
As the trumpet, also the organ has two solo performances.
Thierry Escaich’s „Evocation II“ and Dmitri
Schostakowitsch’s Passacaglia are two extremes,
both in sound and in expression. Evocation II (1996)
sounds like a fulminating outburst of energy: a continuously
thumping rhythm, sounding almost like ritual
dances, combined with a Gregorian antiphon, a
rhythmic accentuated phrase and a melody from the
Geneve Huguenot psaltery, all mixed together like in
a kaleidoscope, warbling around each other like in a
maelstrom and „reaching for the light“ (Escaich) on
two occasions.
Schostakowitsch’s Passacaglia has a similar intensity
of sound as the „Evocation“, but does not reach for
the light. It instead slides into the abyss. The principle
of a passacaglia is the repeating bass line combined
with contra punctual voices linked to the bass
like a convict is bound to his chains. The continuing
return can be seen as something grim from which
there is no way of escaping. Schostakowitsch’s takes
advantage of this. Whenever he uses a passacaglia,
his music announces unsaid or concrete tragedies
and doom. The passacaglia taken from the opera
„Lady Macbeth of Mzensk“ (1934) fits into this sche-
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me – a vehement accumulation and a reach for a
climax that, in the end, collapses. In the opera, this
passacaglia is performed between the 4th and 5th
act. Katerina, the tragic hero, has killed her tyrannic
father-in-law in order to spend the night with her
lover Sergej. So to say, the organ assists in two deadly
sins. Since opera houses are not equipped with
organs, Schostakowitsch later composed an orchestra
version of the passacaglia.
In comparison to the excessive soli of the organ, the
interaction between the trumpet and the organ is
much calmer. Henri Tomasi’s „Semaine Saint a
Cuzco“ (1962) bases on the feastings of the Holy
Week, for which the Peruvian city of Cuzco is famous.
The beginning and the end of this work consist of
fanfares, sharp polytonal harmonies and a choral
(played by the organ pedals). The quiet central part
exudes sacral fervor and reminds of the praying of
flowery phrased psalms, and is followed by the trumpet’s
invocation of God.
Petr Eben’s „Okna“ („Windows“) is a reference to Marc
Chagall’s glass windows which he painted for the
synagogue of the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.
Each window depicts one of the twelve people of
Israel. How do you set pictures into tones? Petr Eben:
„I just placed the windows on my desk and copied
them.“ It must though have been a little more difficult
than that, since „Okna“ is a real sonata. Each of
the four sets is based on one particular tone. The
opening set is very intense and vivid thanks to the
intonation of the trumpet. The second set seems to
be bathed in mystical light, with delicate organ