Gerd
Zacher has long been a familiar name as an organist, less
so as a composer, possibly since his catalogue of works
is not vastly prolific. His work performing John Cage extends
into the techniques used in
Realisation über Cage’s
variations I, and those of us who know the 1968 DG
recordings of Ligeti’s
Volumina and
Etude No.1, ‘Harmonies’ will
already know of some of the remarkable effects he can conjure.
He has also written numerous books on music, and has also
recorded Bach and Reger as well as other contemporary names
such as Isang Yun and Mauricio Kagel.
The
first of the pieces on this SACD hybrid is
Text,
subtitled
Sieben Stationen eines Textes nach Jeremia
36. This title goes some way towards indicating the
intensity and seriousness of this piece, which is serial
and atonal in concept and subject to what sounds like the
tightest intellectual rigour. Zacher’s approach was not
so much a programmatic description of the events described
in Jeremia, but rather the transformation of the texts
as they are distorted by changes in perception: from another
space or room, at other points of time, by other ears,
or when they are subject to changes in emphasis or deformed
to the point of destruction. The programme notes helpfully
provide the descriptions in précis, and Zacher adds his
own brief comments, directing the ear to significant events
or techniques applied in the music. This is one of those
pieces which demands concentrated listening and effort
to appreciate in full, but rewards such application in
full. Each of the movements is quite compact, and as an
opening ‘number’ has plenty of intriguing contrast and
variety of colour, and some startlingly powerful climactic
moments.
Szmaty is also subtitled, this time with a reference to Psalm 22 verse 19,
and has a dedication to Isang Yun. Zacher played Yun’s
work
Tuyaux sonores and this piece often during
the time when Yun had been imprisoned in South Korea, as
a way of bringing his plight to public attention.
Szmaty is
Polish for ‘rags’, the Psalm quote being, “They divided
my clothes among themselves and threw dice for my robe.” The
letter sounds of the title also lend themselves to the
changing colours of the organ sound as the piece progresses.
Humming ‘
m’ sounds, for instance, are created using
the swell shutters opening and closing, and the final ‘
y’ or ‘
i’
sound
is created by using the uppermost pitches of the organ
in an extended cluster, these pipes being more usually
used as additional colour in combination with other stops.
This is another fairly enigmatic piece, but has a sense
of vitality in its almost Darwinian exploration of the
materials chosen by the composer. There are some fascinating
rhythmic passages which have an organic sense of irregularity
and freedom, while at the same time being tightly regulated
patterns ranging from duplets to duodecimoles.
Vocalise is a study for the swell pedal of the organ, with the shutters of
the swell box opening and closing and creating strange
distortions of aural perspective. The ear doesn’t expect
an organ to ebb and flow like the seawater at the beach,
and the effect can by quite a physical one if you allow
it to affect you in that way. The textures and undulating
to and fro are the most un-organ like effects on the programme
so far, with a strange imbalance between almost secretive
melodic contributions from the 8’ muted stop from the organ
chest and the held chords.
The
title
Diferencias comes from the Spanish for variations.
As with Zacher’s other pieces, this is an exploration,
this time of twelve-tone serialism. Zacher provides some
useful analysis, but to me the most important technical
aspect of the work is the flexibility with which the composer
uses his material. Zacher takes up the 12-tone technique
almost as a defence of it as a neglected musical minority,
quoting Erich Itor Kahn and referring to the Nazi’s rejection
and exiling of serialism, so that “it remains today a secret
pushed aside.”
Fans
of Webern will no doubt agree on this point, and the ‘pure’ kind
of atonal 12-tone serialism found in
Diferencias is
indeed something you rarely find in new composition today.
I would say that it’s about as fashionable as flared trousers,
but with the flux in the
Szmaty trade these days
such generalisations are even more dangerous than using
serial technique.
In
fact, if you are intrigued and inspired by Messiaen’s use
of serialism, including the mapping out of ‘interval durations’ and
the like, then you will probably respond quite positively
to this piece. Think of the
Livre d’orgue without
the roaring religious subtext and you might have some idea
of what to expect. Indeed, Messiaen congratulated Zacher
on this work, writing to him on the subject in 1961. Even
if you struggle with the atonality and remoteness of some
of the movements, there is no doubting the strength of
atmosphere created. In transforming common chromaticism
into such a distinctive musical dissertation, Zacher becomes
his own ‘force of nature’.
With
Gerd Zacher’s realisation of John Cage’s
Variations
I we enter an entirely different sound world. Zacher
is a pioneer of alternative organ techniques, and here
he uses variable key pressure to turn the organ into ‘something
rich and strange’. This is no vague improvisation, and
Zacher demonstrates in the booklet text how the various
pressures on the keys can be defined. This is something
which can clearly be heard in the music, and must be devilishly
hard to do well: “Every tiny finger movement, even in fractions
of millimetres, created an audible expression.” Cage himself
was enthusiastic about this interpretation of the piece,
as the chance element of the performance as well as that
of the score becomes absolute, though with Zacher’s efforts
in exactitude with the technique this might also be seen
as a contradiction. Either way, this is a fascinating sound,
and one which will raise the hairs on your scalp.
Another
fascinating noise is created in the final worth on the
programme,
Ré. This title refers to French musical
nomenclature for the note D, but aside from this tonal
focus the overriding impression is one of strangeness in
colour and sound from the organ and beyond. Paper and cardboard
is placed into the wind pipes by assistant Ingo Vinck to
vary the volume and spectrum of sound, and a variety of
effects distort the gradual appearance of the harmonic
overtone scale of D above, while the held pedal note itself
is in a constant state of variation. This is a remarkable
work, and contains the only ‘joke’ I could find on the
disc, a wee three-note reference to Bach’s famous D minor
Toccata and Fugue near the beginning.
Cybele
has proven itself an admirable promoter of good organ music,
with off the beaten track listings such as the works of
Tilo
Medek and the ongoing Tournemire
L’orgue mystique.
Gerd Zacher’s music may provide a tougher nut to crack
than either of the aforementioned, but is equally deserving
of attention. With a superb SACD recording and superlative
performance by the composer himself, this is one of those
rare synergies which makes this disc an instant classic
of 20
th century organ music.
Dominy Clements