RUBIK'S CUBE for Organ

Szathmáry Rubik's Cube for Organ

Zsigmond Szathmáry (born 28 April 1939 in Hódmezovásárhely, near Szeged) is a Hungarian organist, pianist, composer, and conductor.

"Rubik's Cube" was commissioned for the competition held by the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University, Berlin, in 2023.

The composer about his work: "Everyone knows the Rubik's Cube, which Ernö Rubik invented in 1974.  The small coloured cubes should be brought into a certain order by rotating them.  My small cubes here are the numerous, sometimes very short motifs, which are very different rhythmically, in terms of colour and musical expression.  I have tried to string these entities together, to compose them in such a way that there is always an organic musical development which does not come to a standstill and ultimately to a dead end - as can unfortunately easily happen when trying to solve the Rubik's cube.  What is desired is a very colourful registration and a powerful interpretation."

Rhythmic variety and a wide range of expression characterize this energetic piece, which lasts approximately 6 minutes and consists of three parts entitled: "Allegro con moto", "Lento" and "Agitato, molto irato".  With the help of precise performance markings, all articulatory shadings from staccato to accents to singing legato are called for and result in a contrasting whole.Numbers from 1 to 13 entered by the composer on the last page represent a segment of the Fibonacci sequence.  These numbers form a structuring element.The edition contains the registration specifications which correspond to the sound image desired by the composer on the organ of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche in Berlin.  When the work is played on organs with other registration possibilities, new sound colour spectra open up.

- Composition commissioned for the competition held by the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University in Berlin in 2023

- Includes the composer’s registration specifications for the Karl Schuke organ at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche, Berlin

- A work full of contrasts with an advanced but not extreme degree of difficulty