Vol. 1 - Faust, Mutationes

Gunther Rost at the Goll organ in St. Martin's, Memmingen, Germany
(Motette 2002, a co-production with Southwest German Radio SWR, Baden-Baden)

Gunther Rost plays Petr Eben's great philosophical cycle Faust and his Mutationes for Two Organs on the new Goll organ in the Church of St. Martin in Memmingen, Germany.

- Comprehensive booklet with commentary on the works and music examples,
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Faust

In 1976 Petr Eben was commissioned to write the incidental music for Goethe's Faust on the occasion of the Vienna Burgtheater jubilee. Faust for Organ, composed in 1979/1980, is his adaptation of this music for the organ.

The question of good and evil influenced the artist's work fundamentally. This good-evil relationship lies at the heart of Faust - God's and Mephisto's contending for Faust's soul on the one hand, and the conflict of good and evil within Faust himself on the other hand.

To express this on a single instrument Eben uses the organ in two totally contrasting ways: in the solemn, conservative organ sound and in the trivial superficiality of a barrel organ.

Mutationes

The title Mutationes (for two organs) reflects Eben's idea of the intertwining play of two organs, which the seven-movement composition is based on. For movements I, III and V, for which Eben demands a "more highly charged, tonally freer style", the composer wants a big, full organ sound. In contrast, movements II, IV and VI, have been designed for a small organ with a leaner sound and have been centred tonally "in A". Only in movement VII ("Duo") both instruments ("large" and "small" organ) are played simultaneously. In his explanatory notes Petr Eben suggests two techniques - performance by two organists or by one organist (in the latter case, the final movement "Duo" is replaced by repeating the initial movement). When there is only one organist, only one organ can be played and in that case the alternating instruments are imitated by contrasting registration.

In this rendition Gunther Rost plays the Mutationes on the Goll-organ at St. Martin's in Memmingen, Germany. The closing "Duo" has not been omitted - the movement's passages which cannot be played simultaneously by one player have been played successively in four-track technique.

Gunther Rost, Orgel / organ
(St. Martin, Memmingen)

PETR EBEN: DAS ORGELWERK I / ORGAN WORKS VOL. 1