PETR EBEN (1929-2007): Organ Concerto No. 2 (Bamberg Symphony; Gabriel Feltz), Landscapes of Patmos for Organ and Percussion (Babette Haag [percussion]), Chagall Windows for Organ and Trumpet (Tine Thing Helseth [trumpet]).

Description: Windows and Landscapes are practically standard repertoire now but this is the only available recording of Eben's 1982 second organ concerto. Unlike the First (from 1954 and offered here last December [12M009]), which was of a quasi-sacred character, this one is determinedly secular, the roiling unrest in the composer's native Czechoslovakia under Communist rule bursting out in the sense of struggle and conflict, with, often, organ, strings and brass opposed to each other in argument. Even the slow movement, Andante rhapsodico, is more oppressive than rhapsodic and there is no hard-won victory at the end either. Günther Rost (organ of the Bamberg Concert Hall).