Note by note: Vierne Carillon de Westminster

Just about any organist could say, “I have played this piece since high school.” That is not always good news. This carillon is often played too fast, surprise, surprise. Vierne says Andante con moto, not Allegro con fuoco. And when you recall that most metronome markings (here, dotted quarter 69) were often insisted on by the publishers against composers’ wishes and are often wayyyyyyy too fast, then there is no empirical support for playing this piece any faster than marked. Don’t forget that this is live music, not a computerized light show. Vierne asks for ‘motion’ in his Italian indication, but honestly, he writes so many notes in such vigorous rhythm that there is plenty of moto present without having to force things. The piece should soar rather than dive-bomb. Never stop listening.

Registration: French Récits will require everything on, except 16-foot stops. But in the U.S., I often leave off the mixture and the 2’ and even the 4’ reed and have a much better time. Those stops may make for a more imposing buildup later in, say, measure 66.

Measure 1: Repeat after me: “Those slurs over every measure do not indicate lifts at the end.” “Those slurs over every measure do not indicate lifts at the end.” “Those slurs over every measure do not indicate lifts at the end.” French Symphonic is always played legato unless otherwise indicated, and ‘otherwise indicated’ is going to be much more obvious than a phrase mark. Had Vierne intended lifts, he would have inserted breath marks or rests outright. The copious slurs here are not liftable phrase marks but rather moments of ‘pulses,’ where the first note of the slur is ever so slightly lengthened, and the remaining notes simply grow naturally from it and make their way without delay to the next slur. In other words, one may put the slightest tenuto on the first note of each slur and then proceed a tempo through the rest of the measure, with no breaking to prove a point. (Pedagogical descendants of Clyde Holloway will recognize this as ‘pulsing.’) Notice the actual rests Vierne inserts into the Pedal in measures 4, 9, 11, 12, 13, etc.

Measure 3: I like to play this melody on the manual adjacent to the Récit. It makes some of my own ‘thumbing’ easier in measure 33.

Measure 4 and following: observe exactly all printed rests for the Pedal. That goes for each hand, for that matter, for all 165 measures.

Measure 5: Compare the left-hand and pedal cutoff here with those in measures 9 and 14. They’re all different and are perfectly playable differently. I don’t think Vierne was being careless in his notation – he was too advanced in his style by then to miss errors like that. So go to the trouble to be rhythmically precise and listen to the results.

Measure 9: Notice that the left hand will need to insert an eighth rest in order to re-strike the A for measure 10. Same thing in measures 17 and 30. Same thing in measure 54 for the right hand. Plenty other places – just keep your eyes and ears alert for rhythmic precision at all times.

Measure 33: I ‘thumb’ a few sextuplets into the left hand, to keep things smooth and panic-free.

Measure 34: If you have been playing your left hand on the middle manual since the beginning and your Positif is on the bottom, you can ‘recover’ to the bottom manual at some point in this measure and prepare the Great stops for measure 35.

Measure 35 and following: Repeat after me: “Those slurs over every measure do not indicate lifts at the end.” This also applies to the Pedal slurring, which is aligned differently. Same thing as before – the beginning of a slur can mean a slight dwelling on the first note, but in French Symphonic style, such never indicates a break prior. Only rests and breath marks and staccato marks and the like indicate breaking. German and English? Yes, feel free to break at phrase marks. But not in French Symphonic.

Measure 51 is missing its slur in the left hand. Not that we were at a loss without it.

Measure 59: The final D in the left hand may need to be broken for the re-strike of that note for measure 60. But if the acoustic says otherwise, feel free to tie. In any event, no need to break the B – again, always legato in this style unless otherwise instructed.

Measure 62: The first eighth rest in the Pedal is unnecessary and should be crossed out. The Pedal holds its first note a full large-beat dotted quarter and then releases with the left hand.

Measures 66-69 and similar measures through 93: Repeat after me: “Those slurs over every beat do not indicate lifts at the end.” Use dwelling, not breaking, on the first note to make things clean. But don’t dwell too much, because the first note of each beat here is already the highest, and therefore the loudest.

Measures 70, 74, 78, 82, 86, 90: The left hand is told to lift its chord on the final eighth of each measure, while the Pedal is told to hold all the way to the downbeat. There is always the chance that one of those treatments was an afterthought that didn’t get changed in the other part. But there is plenty to be said for taking Vierne literally in those measures and allowing the Pedal to linger just a bit longer in the name of sustained reverberation. This makes even better sense in measures 114-118. Only in 119 does he change it, and for good reason of the registration change.

Measure 86: The final C in the right hand may need to be lifted for its re-striking in 87. See the discussion for measure 59 above.

Measures 96 and following: See those staccato marks? Now you can start breaking some things. The authority for that is granted by the staccatos, not by the slurs. Keep everything clean and consistent.

Measures 120-125, 130-140: Honestly, I don’t know what sort of claws Vierne is expecting an organist to have in these passages. There are a couple spots where the finger stretching is heroic [read: laughable] and downright dangerous if over-practiced. Be careful. Everyone’s hands are different, so I’ll just offer general comments: 1) When in doubt, strive for legato melody – we would notice a broken soprano note before we noticed a broken or missing inner voice; 2) The sextuplets add a very effective sense of churning but no melody; 3) The drone on A in the left hand adds more sound but no melody. I would say that that A could be the first note you sacrifice to save your wrists or to preserve other parts of the texture. Experiment as needed – no need for this to hurt.

Measure 125: Tie the left hand A into measure 126. Ditto for measure 140 into 141. That is, if you’re actually playing it! (See the discussion just above.)

Measures 126-129, 141-144: The pesante chords are marked with sharp accents, which may be executed by shortening the quarter notes. Not too short – they still need a moment to speak with full voice.

Measure 144: Depending on the organ and the acoustics, I might tie the final F# in the Pedal into 145.

Measures 157-159: I have experimented with all sorts of rhythmic and acoustical manipulations here. Some folks add fermatas to the notes and/or to some of the eighth rests. But with Vierne suddenly coming to a rhythmic halt here for the first time in the piece and adding a ritard, I believe we might have plenty enough success just to keep counting while still slowing down.

Measures 160-163: If you can’t hear the Pedal notes, it’s too fast. That’s only four measures, so there’s no time for the Sowerby Pageant here – those notes are still quite melodic, and they deserve love.

Measure 163: I wouldn’t slow down too much. And I certainly wouldn’t add fermatas to the final sextuplets. Imagine a carillonneur playing a piece such as this – they wouldn’t slow down much. I might, however, release the penultimate chord just a bit early, to hear the Pedal cadenza better. And I might play the final two sextuplets in double octaves, especially if the organ doesn’t have enough lungs otherwise.