To burn for Vierne ...

[Contratrombone64]

Having owned the Ben van Oosten set of the Vierne symphonies for a while, all played on magnificent French organs. I side stepped my comfort zone and purchased an American set ... thinking it wouldn't be anywhere near as good in sound and interpretation. But, my god, was I wrong. The wonderful Newberry Organ at Yale University with Jean Martin at the console is a force to be reckoned with.

For me, his tempi are perfect, slightly faster than van Oosten's and possibly due to the slightly less reverberant accoustic of Yale's hall. I just love them and love the sound of the wonderful organ, it's just so French (at least Martin's use of stops is). Anyone else know this sublime cycle?

 

[NEB]

Talking about Vierne. I've got odd recordings of movements knocking around on MP3 format from symphonies 5 and 6, and I'd quite like to learn some of these or even the entire works, but do you think I can find the music anywhere? Not a Chance. I thought they were opus 47 and opus 59 respectively but I'm starting to doubt what I thought I knew...

Can anyone shed any light on where I might obtain these Please?

 

[Art Rock]

The opus numbers are right, the sixth one was issued on a Hyperion CD (wth the third).

 

[NEB]

Thanks. Now all I need to do is find the sheet music.

 

[Krummhorn]

NEB,

Try this link: http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Vierne%2C_Louis. It's all public domain stuff :grin:

 

[Caddis]

Thanks C.T.64,Ive been looking for a decent American recording for quite some time,this will be my third set of Vierne organ symphonies.The other two are the Ben van Oosten and Christine Kamp sets.If I may ask how many Aus.$ did the set cost.

 

[NEB]

Cool! Thanks. I didn't know Vierne was public domain or I'd have looked there myself - I've been busy trying to buy copy. - That saves me a good deal of money - Thanks.

 

[Krummhorn]

NEB,

Welcome ... actually, Vierne only became public domain this past June - the 70th anniversary of his death :angel:. I try to incorporate as much Vierne as I can in my church organ preludes, and as time permits.

 

[Thomas Dressler]

Question about public domain--is it 70 years after the composer's death, or 70 years after copyright of an edition? (For instance, if something is still in print, and/or it has a copyright AFTER the composer's death?) I'm assuming there are copyrights on the music itself, and copyrights on engravings, which are maybe two different things.

I ask this because I download music from that site, too; but I am very conscientious about money going where it is due. Do you know the ins and outs of this?

 

[Art Rock]

Wikipedia:

Copyrights are more complex than patents; generally, in current law, the copyright in a published work expires in all countries when any of the following conditions are satisfied (except Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Samoa, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on all these countries are fair use):[2]

• The work was created and first published before January 1, 1923, or at least 95 years before January 1 of the current year, whichever is later;
• The last surviving author died at least 70 years before January 1 of the current year;
• No Berne Convention signatory has passed a perpetual copyright on the work; and
• Neither the United States nor the European Union has passed a copyright term extension since these conditions were last updated. (This must be a condition because the exact numbers in the other conditions depend on the state of the law at any given moment.)

 

[Contratrombone64]

NEB you might also consider buying "French Romantic Organ Music" CD from CD Sheet Music (American firm). It has tones of wonderful stuff, all in PDF: Dupré, Franck, Gigout, Guilmant, Honegger, Ropartz, Saint-Saëns, Satie, Tournemire, Vierne (symphonies 1 to 4) and Widor (complete symphonies). www.cdsheetmusic.com ... (no, I don't work for them).

 

[Contratrombone64]

Thanks C.T.64,Ive been looking for a decent American recording for quite some time,this will be my third set of Vierne organ symphonies.The other two are the Ben van Oosten and Christine Kamp sets.If I may ask how many Aus.$ did the set cost.

Not sure as I paid American dollars via Amazon. Check it out there yourself, if you like. Wasn't expensive.

 

[NEB]

NEB you might also consider buying "French Romantic Organ Music" CD from CD Sheet Music (American firm). It has tones of wonderful stuff, all in PDF: Dupré, Franck, Gigout, Guilmant, Honegger, Ropartz, Saint-Saëns, Satie, Tournemire, Vierne (symphonies 1 to 4) and Widor (complete symphonies). www.cdsheetmusic.com ... (no, I don't work for them).

Thanks. I'll check it out after my holidays.

 

[Thomas Dressler]

I have this CD and use it from time to time. I should point out that while it is extremely convenient, some of the public domain editions (Franck, Widor, Guilmant) are not the best--there are better editions in print, especially of the Widor symphonies. The Franck is ok if you realize there are mistakes here and there. I don't know a lot about Vierne, so I don't know about editions of his music.

 

[Contratrombone64]

Thomas

You are spot on about the edition, when I listen to Widor played by (for example) van Oosten ... what he plays and what is on the page (PDF) are two entirely different things.

Maybe we (Nagle) could produce their own authoritative edition? I'd happily do the typesetting (Finale).

 

[Thomas Dressler]

CT, that's an interesting idea. However there is a really wonderful edition of the Widor symphonies already, edited by John Near and published by A-R Editions, Inc. The scholarship of this edition is incredible. The difficulty with Widor symphonies is that he revised them numerous times over the years, and the public domain edition has for the most part, I believe, early versions of the pieces. The John Near edition tends to the last versions, but also includes other versions of they are of special interest, and he describes in detail the changes Widor made. A really wonderful edition, and I wish more editions of organ music were like this one!

 

[Contratrombone64]

Thomas, can you please give me an ISBN for this edition, I'll see if my music store can't order it. thanks

 

[Contratrombone64]

thomas, I'm having a devil of a time finding a "kosher" edition of the Widor symphonies, I'm not sure one house publishes the lot, can you adivse what might be a suitable urtext? thanks

 

[Thomas Dressler]

Hi CT,

The really great edition is published by A-R Editions, Inc., 801 Deming Way, Madison, Wisconsin 53717 telephone (608) 836-9000

They have all of the Widor Symphonies as part of a series they call "Recent researches in the music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."

I don't own all of them (they're a little pricey) but the ISBN number for Symphonie #5 is 0-89579-276-1

Does that help?

Tom

 

[Contratrombone64]

Thomas,

Enormously, thanks, I'll see if I can't contact them.

Next time you think about an overseas trip, let me know if you come to Sydney and I'll organise you to see and play some of our local monsters. Town Hall especially has to be played to be believed.