Eva-Maria Houben - Erwartung 1 und 2 (2019)

‘Erwartung 1 und 2’ is an in-depth exploration of a single chord, encouraging the user to inhabit the spaces between and around the notes, played on piano and organ. It is about savouring time and being aware of perspective

“Eva-Maria Houben's music has somehow always been about perspective. These two new pieces, one for piano and one for organ, are once again prime examples. The title is borrowed from Arnold Schönberg's one-act monodrama Erwartung Op.17, in which a woman wanders through the night in search of her (dead) lover. According to Schönberg, his work aims "to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour". And this, in a certain way, is very descriptive of Houben's calm, patient recordings as well.

As she disassembles a piercing twelve-tone chord of the said Schönberg piece, rendering it unrecognizable and making it fully her own. Changing the perspective. Once for piano, and once for pipe organ. Her respective protagonists.”