Widor vs. Joby, Part 5: Symphony No. V

This is the fifth installment in my series on my take on playing the complete works of Charles-Marie Widor. See the first post in the series for an introduction and my philosophies behind this blog series. And as always, refer to John Near’s edition for important corrections in the scores that I might not necessarily mention.

Symphony V is up today. Visit my program notes on the piece. And of course, feel free to order the recording. 

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I have played this entire piece countless times in recital. Audiences routinely report to me a new perspective on the Toccata, not only when they hear the rest of the Symphony in front of it, but also when they hear it played at Widor's desired tempo.(!)

Movement I

“Franckian” problems abound in the more chordal passages in this movement. When to tie? When to play legato? When to break? I started that discussion with Symphony I, mvt. VI. I’ll not enumerate the myriad decisions I have made here but would encourage you to listen very carefully and make good decisions for yourself. Note Widor’s staccatos vs. slurs. The rest has to be decided.

Measures 12, 17, 263, and 267: Remember the ‘trill discussion’ for Symphony IV, mvt I? Well, we need to have it again. Most performers execute the trills in these measures as mere pre-beat grace notes. I feel they need more substance than that, and I try to squeeze at least two ‘wiggles’ out of them. And I can’t resist commencing them on the beat, which is contrary to the prevailing style of the day (pre-beat).

Measure 114: This section need not be a stampede. Even my producer told me to slow down. Imagine.

Measure 125: That is a nasty manual change. Not only do the hands have to exchange manuals, but also the left hand has to displace a tenth in the process. I have three solutions to offer:

1) Take your time and change manuals. Easy. Maintaining a solid tempo will not be possible, so take your time and make it musical. But if you want to impress others who play this movement, try these two additional, more radical solutions:

2) I make the manual change earlier, on the 4th beat of 124, where the fingers are in a better position to "reach" for their next manual. But in the process, I also exchange parts, where the right hand now plays the notes written for the left hand and vice versa. Beginning on that beat, the left hand now plays the upper treble clef on the Récit, and the right hand plays the lower treble clef on the Positif. The notes are still being played on the proper manual, just by the opposite hand for four beats. By the time I reach beat 4 of 125, the hands are already on the manual where they are headed, and they can resume their own written parts once again.

3) An even more radical solution is to exchange the hands’ parts as above, but now starting in 121. Then at 125, they just exchange parts rather than exchange manuals.

Measure 164, beat 4: I remove Great-Ped to keep it from droning while the hands are on the Positif. I restore the coupler on beat 4 of 168. I remove it again in 176, beat 4.

Movement II

Widor originally wrote this as a ‘da capo’ movement, where the entire first section returns following the B section. In his revision, which most people play, he shortens the return. While I love measures 39-70 and their homage to Mendelssohn, I agree with Widor that the movement is too long with a full da capo, and I recorded his shortened version.

This movement also contains an example of a brief ‘prelude’ to the movement proper. The first system is one of those tiny, short passages that Widor writes only once and never refers to again. And it is not based on a motive from the movement. Similar treatments come to mind, such as the opening to Symphony VII, movement III, or the opening of Symphony VIII, movement V, or the closing of that same movement, or the very end of Symphony III. A lot of those examples are good music that we never hear again. I particularly lament the mere single dose of the opening to Symphony VII, movement III.

Measures 124-126 and 291-292: many performers go double time there, I've discovered. Count carefully!

Movement III

The opening sounds like “Heart & Soul.” Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Movement IV

Aside from large chordal sections in the more epic movements, Widor tended to write contrapuntally, and this non-epic movement is a near-perfect exercise in four- and five-part harmony. Throughout the movement, pay attention to the notes you feel should be tied and the ones you feel should break. Sometimes, the part writing is such that many voices break at a time, which sounds like too much of an 'event.' At other times, not enough movement in the voices costs momentum in the overall pace. Listen carefully.

Measures 7 and 8: each of those measures contains parallel fifths.(!) Each example is from beat 2 into beat 3, between tenor and alto. Normally, I would ‘fix’ that, as I did in measure 222 of the Franck B Minor Choral, but I leave these alone.

Measure 21: It would be clever to bring the tenor out in relief on another manual, but you’d need very long fingers to do the ‘thumbing.’ It's possible only if the manuals are constructed close enough together on the console.

Measures 25-27: You’ll need to make a number of decisions about which notes to break and which notes to tie. And notice how carefully Widor chooses the note values in the left hand in 27.

Movement V: Toccata

Very little need be said, other than ‘slow down.’ Consult John Near for Widor’s final wishes regarding articulation and tempo. Once you ‘lean on’ the first note of each measure the way Widor ultimately decided to ask for, you’ll understand just how powerful that really is, particularly in the recap. Don’t bother trying to achieve that same effect in a dead room; save your energy for other pieces.