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About LinkBacksThis should spark a debate...
Here's a question for all organ lovers alike: who's recording of Widor's toccata do you think is the best?
I'll go first: I think Olivier Latry nails it!
This should spark a debate...
Here's a question for all organ lovers alike: who's recording of Widor's toccata do you think is the best?
I'll go first: I think Olivier Latry nails it!
Ian Tracy at Liverpool Cathedral is also a stellar performance as well as Thomas Murray at Mormon Tabernacle in Utah.
I can not argue concerning Latry on most anything he plays/renders his opinon.. also found Widor's recording quite interesting even if he was in his 80's I believe... it is on you tube. Most I believe play way to fast and used as a show piece which is a shame. Roth's is not bad either.
" The essance of reproduction,to feel and re-create that which was felt and impared by the creater,does not exclude- within natural limitations-the assertion of creative power" - Dr. Hugo Goldschmidt.
I wish you the Best for each day, now and always.
Bill
Mr Bill - you are indeed correct. But most who play it at break neck speed are only demonstrating their complete lack of a) research and b) taste.
At a steady pace, with even, crisp staccatos it makes the piece almost listenable.
I completley agree with you - (although I have nothing against him personally) recordings like Wayne Marshall's actually make me feel sick because my mind just cannot comprehend it!
Let's put it another way. The speed demons are largely egomaniacs who want to show off their technical ability. And that applies to a lot more than just Widor's toccata. It is supposedly documented that Widor himself thought a lot of people played it too fast.
I still maintain that in a large church or cathedral with a long reverb time that type of playing will be just a cacaphony of noise and no one will be able to distinguish the voices or various parts.
Virgil Fox was famous for not caring how a composer intended the music to be played. Well OK, most of them couldn't be there to hear it. But that's also one of several reasons why Fox was rather controversial. Virtuosity is not just a matter of speed alone.
Virgil Fox was indeed a speed demon BUT he had extra ordinary talent ... same can't be said for your local parish organist who just wishes to show off how swift his/her fingers are.
The one I'm always coming back to is Francois-Henri Houbart, playing on La Madeleine church Cavaille-Coll pipe organ -
http://www.amazon.com/Widor-Vierne-S...60250&sr=301-1
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