CHRISTIAN OFENBAUER, Fünf Stücke für Grosse Orgel (1983/84), Doblinger 17890. €19.80. The notion as to whether a piece is for “large organ” or “small organ” is essentially a pragmatic consideration on the part of the performer, and when composers make representations to this effect, the work is apt to lose credibility. These five pieces are all miniatures of three to five pages that, in no way seem to demand the resources of a large instrument, and that, in fact, are more characteristically suited to the resources of a small one. The first piece, “Nocturne I,” employs only a single registration (RH forte, LH piano, Pedal mezzo- forte), except for a ten-bar introduction and five-bar coda. But it is an interesting study in which, throughout an unchanging 4/8 time, almost no rhythmic formulation in any measure is replicated in any other measure, and in which the absence of a tonal center is offset and “covered” by an accompaniment written in double fourths throughout. The following “Adagietto” is an intensely lyrical piece in the manner of Brahms––that is, from a point of view as to how Brahms might have composed had he lived long enough to embrace serial techniques––but the prescribed manual changes in the opening and closing bars seem merely accessory, and not essential to the plan. In the third piece, “Allegretto,” incessant manual changes, and changes of time-signature as well, are both essential to the plan, yet without changing either stops or tempo (except for ritardandi at ends of phrases). The fourth piece is very close to the third movement of Messiaen’s Messe de la Pentecôte, wherein two short refrains are juxtaposed with monodic passages; the registrations are not too different, but here the refrains are slightly expanded each time. The final piece is based upon a five-note motif (always in the Hauptwerke) marked “Un poco nervoso,” and a four-note motif (always in the Swell) marked “Largo appassionato.” These come to a climax marked by a descending bass and double fourths in the left hand, but about fifteen seconds from the end comes the direction “Den Motor abschalten”––cleverly, one turns off the blower right before the end of the piece.

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