"'Air" is yet another utterly impressive offering from, in my opinion, one of the most consistently extraordinary composers at work today, one who continues to unveil new facets of her persona. Hear it." - Brian Olewnick "And if you would ask me for a statement to composing, to my composing – I would answer: listening becomes the awareness of fading sound. Fading sound is the link between life and art; between perception in daily life and perception while performing, while composing. And the awareness of fading sound may become the awareness of presence.I am pianist and – in addition – organist. As organist I never forget that the organ is a wind-instrument. My pieces for organ and my “installations” for organ (the installations last many hours) ask: Am I realizing a piece? There is hardly anything you may hear in the church. The organ releases as a jewel each single sound; each stream of air; each noise: disappearing into the space of the hall. The listener will find the way to listening: in this particular room with this particular organ and its streams of sound/ air/ wind. All sound, all streams of air and noises are quiet; sometimes hardly recognizable. The sound of music; the noise of music; the sound and noise of everyday life: they cut into each other. Both sound and noise of music do not depend on silence as with a piece of music. Both sound and noise do not need any silent location: they are quiet themselves; their quietness creates silent rooms, which welcome all sounds. It is organ the machine and human beings working together. Man cannot breathe sounds of almost eternal duration; but the organ must not be considered a machine. My pieces for organ require the player: moving the keys; make the winds stream. Sounds, wind, noises of the organ as a wind-instrument and the silence at sacred spaces: not a coincidence. Churches’ sacred spaces turn into locations for people to nothing more than just be there and breathe; where people can listen – unhindered by any possible meaning of sounds and streams of air. In spite of the fact that the organ may have an endless breath – I composed one of my first organ pieces dazwischen (between) (2000) with two drones – you can hear “nearly nothing” by listening to the streams of air." - Eva-Maria Houben --- Recorded 2014, ref. church Elgg, Switzerland (ein schlummer), Hardstudios Winterthur, Switzerland (aufhören; atmen V: flutes), St Margareta, Dortmund-Eichlinghofen (atmen 5, organ)

The German composer Eva-Maria Houben, a member of the increasingly influential Wandelweiser Group, seems to view notes less as musical building blocks than as discrete entities with complex life cycles, and absence as a substantive presence. Her newest disc on the group’s label is an excellent entry point, pairing her spacious, mantralike “Traumverloren I” (“Lost in Dreams I”) and Piano Sonata No. 10 (“Les Cloches du Songe: Traumglocken — Dream Bells”), a sequence of finely wrought tributes to Mussorgsky, Enescu, Schumann, Liszt and Messiaen. (Steve Smith) Tracklisting: 1. ‘Traumverloren I' (lost in dreams I) (2010) 2. ’Klaviersonate nr. 10' (sonata for piano no. 10) (2013), 'les cloches du songe' (traumglocken - dream bells) 3. I: in memoriam modest mussorgsky 4. II: in memoriam george enescu 5. III: in memoriam robert schumann 6. IV: in memoriam franz liszt7: V: in memoriam olivier messiaen  

Huge collection of gorgeous organ compositions by Eva-Maria Houben, performed by Carson Cooman---Tracklisting:sonatina no. 1 (2016)01. lento sognante (dreamily slow)02. come un’ ombra movente (like a moving shadow)03. con una leggerezza fantasiosa (with an odd lightness) sonatina no. 2 (2016)04. sogni confusi (confused dreams)05. come un leggero vapore iridato (like a rainbow-colored mist)06. con una lenta e grave eleganza (with a dignified and slow elegance) sonatina no. 3 (2016)07. sognante / ”sogno marittimo” (dreamy / “sea-dream”)08. come un inno. da molto lontano: uscendo dalla foschia (like a hymn. from very far away: appearing out of the fog)09.con una grande dolcezza (with great tenderness)10. drones (2014) --- Carson Cooman / organ ---recorded in hoofdorgel, laurenskerk, rotterdam (netherlands) august / september 2016.organ is a marcussen & son, 1973; model by jiri zurek, 2012

A Peaceful Silent Place For Organ And Piano (2019) / Variant (2020) --- Eva-Maria Houben / organ, piano