HEISS!

As a schoolboy, Gerhard Stäbler was already interested in the organ and later chose to study the instrument. His comprehensive catalogue of works, however, only contains the five pieces for this monumental instrument compiled here. This is certainly not due to any lack of interest. Stäbler still speaks with deeply felt enthusiasm about the organ. He is still mesmerized by the sheer mass of the instrument’s appearance and its sound.

Stäbler has arranged “Windows” for several other instrumental groupings, including a version for organ and tomtoms ad libitum. The work was composed in connection with a film production about Albania that documented the lives of three families. “The windows open in different ways. Sometimes, hidden but important information escapes through a crack; sometimes we hear something superficially distracting through a wide-open window; sometimes we listen in on intimate, interior matters; and sometimes we concentrate on what is happening outside”, Stäbler wrote down in the score.

The graphic score of “HEISS!” [Hot!] consists of lines like the now-ubiquitous barcodes that contain product information in a series of lines of varying thickness. In Dominik Susteck’s performance, the series of lines result in repetitive percussive structures and very fast chordal passages with short inserts.

For “TAP” for organ pedal solo Stäbler uses arrows with an indication of the dynamic level and two numbers each. One of these numbers gives the duration of a sound in seconds, and the other the number of pedals to be pressed down. It is already unusual to write a piece for organ pedals only, but Stäbler goes even further and employs unusual playing techniques and sound phenomena. The performer can, if he or she so wishes, wear shoes with hard soles to create percussive effects.

The subject of the work “!? – Musical Essay on the Limits of the Possible”, originally written for harpsichord, is repetition. Especially on the organ – with its idiosyncratic method of sound production and characteristically delayed attacks, as well as the unusual combinations of the different registrations at various pitch levels – the technique of repetition which is taken to the extreme generates an extremely colourful and sometimes noise-like sound spectrum.

In “Aber …” [But …] one’s first impression is that of a less complex texture. Although many passages consist of only a single line or long sustained individual notes, the character of the sound is constantly changing. For example, fluctuations in the air pressure lead to variations of the tone color and slight vibrations in the pitch level. They symbolize the uncertainty of apparently simple individual notes and at the same time demonstrate an openness to new sound experiences.

co-production: Deutschlandradio