Landschaften vor Patmos für Orgel und Schlagzeug - 22 Min., 5 Sätze, schwer; 5 Toms, Crotales, 4 Bongos, Glocken, Becken, Gong, Glsp., 4 TBl., Xylo, 4 Cowbells, Tam.
This work was written in 1984 following a commission from the Bach Society in Heidelberg. It was the opportunity for me to associate organ and percussion, something I had wanted to do for a long time. It is one of those rare combinations, where the organ can call into play all its resources and in which the organist is not limited to soft registrations.
The tremendous potentialin sound evoked for me a solemn and dramatic atmosphere, inciting me to choose the theme of the Book of Revelation, written by St John on the island of Patmos. Obviously a limited number of movements for only two players could not express everything in it, rather these five movements are a brief glance at some of the images of St John's Book; hence the words "Landscapes".
1. The Landscape with Eagle with mountains and rocks, uses only the membranophones: the drums.
("And the fourth beast was like a flying eagle")
2. In the second movement, the Landscape with the Eldest, the organ and the percussion are both used as solo. The movement starts with a sort of wise sermon in a low and a little hoarse voice. ("And round about the Throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in a white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold")
3. The Landscape with Temple brings a juxtaposition of colours between a mysterious dim twilight and a crystaline sparkling. This movement is concentrated on metallophones - bells, glockenspiel, gongs and tamtam. ("And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was in his Temple the ark of his testament")
4. The Landscape with Rainbow is written in two parts. In the first part it is a dialogue of quick irregular quavers on the bongos, played with the hands, and the organ; this part could remind one of the sound of raindrops. In the second part, on the background of the bellsound, the organ plays the melody of the rainbow, still with some silver drops of water. ("And there was a rainbow about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald")
5. The Landscape with Horses, in this context evil bringing animals, is quoting the gregorian theme of the Dies irae, the Day of Wrath, which is heard throughout the piece as though bringing doom in its wake. However, towards the end another hymn, the Victimae paschali laudes of Easter proclaims the victory of life over death. Curiously, this theme is an almost exact inversion of the Dies irae. ("And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. And there was another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth... and there was given to him a great sword. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him Death; and Hell followed with him")
Petr Eben
