Louis Vierne - Symphony in A Minor, Op 24 + Poeme for Piano & Orch, Op 50

[John Hudock]

I've just listened to a wonderful symphony by Louis Vierne and not one of his justly celebrated symphonies for organ solo, but an orchestral symphony.  The symphony from 1907 is lush and dramatic. It's paired with an equally lovely and exciting Poeme for piano & orch from 1925 (hints of the Franck Sym Variations). Both are on a Timpani CD. I can find out very little info about either piece, the Grove entry lists them in his works, but says nothing about either. I didn't see any other recordings available of them either.

While investigating I did come across a recording of several symphonic poems for voice and orchestra (paired with the much better known Chausson poeme) reviewed on Music-Web:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2010/Feb10/Turbulent_Heart_mr301123.htm

which I will be obtaining shortly.

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Hello John,

I share your enthusiasm for the Symphony. Just in case you haven't encountered it there's also a Timpani set of the chamber music. It contains the String Quartet (1894), Violin Sonata (1905-07), Rhapsody for Harp (1909), Piano Quintet (1917), Cello Sonata (1920) and a few other things. Much to drool over here! I'm also glad to have picked up the works for piano performed by Olivier Gardon - also Timpani.

And we have in common the fact that we're both waiting for the Melba disc to arrive in the post. Following that MusicWeb review it just had to be added to the wants list whose sheer length gets more and more formidable. I read a further enthusiastic review somewhere else - IRR maybe?

There's moral here: if someone develops a reputation for organ music, then works composed outside the organ loft can too easily get forgotten (cf Rheinberger).

[John Hudock]

I do have the chamber collection on Timpani and like it quite a lot as well.  I didn't wait for the post, I downloaded the mp3s from Amazon. I will try to listen this weekend.

I am also quite fond of his beautiful Messe Solennelle which has several recordings. I only have the Bardot recording which is quite fine, but I am interested in getting the James O'Donnell recording with the Westminster Choir. The O'Donnell recording pairs it with the Widor mass which I also like, but it also has several other smaller choral works by Widor and Vierne which I have not heard.

[Marcus]

Hello John Hudock,
I bought the Vierne  Symphony 11 years ago, and at that time I only knew him as a composer of organ music.
Like you I think it is a beautiful work, very Franckian, even Chausson. Do you have the booklet ? or just a download ? If you don't have the booklet, email me, and I will photo-copy & send to you.
As you would know, Vierne was blind at birth, and he had great difficulty writing this symphony. I quote from the booklet notes : "Without his physical handicap,the composer would certainly have written more for the orchestra.
In his memoires, he refers to this difficulty related to his Symphonie: 'I reserved the orchestration for my brother's eyes, so that my awful writing could be recopied... These 315 pages of orchestra which represent the double of what I planned, cost me endless pain, and my eyes suffered with extreme tiredness, & under the light of my Weisbach burner towards the end, the staves appeared almost blood red."
In 1907, his marriage broke down, and with continual eyesight problems, 'he wrote the first two movements in a state of shock.' "This symphony nevertheless remains the expression of real anguish which led the composer to choose dark tones. (notice the two bass trombones, which is rare)"
Marcus

[Alan Howe]

I've just dug out my copy of Vierne's Symphony - and what a fine piece it is, very much in the Franck tradition, but rather more advanced in idiom. Couldn't resist playing and replaying the utterly memorable finale - 7½ minutes of post-Franckian excitement.

In terms of increasing chromaticism, the tradition goes something like this: Franck > Chausson > Dukas > d'Indy 2 > Vierne. Fascinating.

For those who don't know the work, it's on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMdOG9SKPvk

[eschiss1]

Unfortunately this was not one of those works in which Vierne's publishers was particularly interested, more fools they, and it remains in manuscript to this day to my knowledge. (IMSLP - which points to what seems to be a relatively new Wikipedia article on the symphony - claims the recopying of the manuscript was done by Madeleine Mallet-Richepin, but was it partially done by his brother as well?)

[jdperdrix]

I'm not a musicologist, so the following reflections are based on my personal impressions as well as booklets included in various CD's.
Start with Saint-Saëns 3rd (1886). This well known work made a great impression on Widor, who warmly praised Saint-Saëns's talent as on orchestrator. Widor's answer was his own 3rd symphony Op. 69 (https://youtu.be/mjCWX1xRUZk?si=b9YQZDcEs7ItCwhq), with organ and in two distinct parts as Saint-Saëns (1893). Widor's was performed in Paris in 1895, with Vierne at the organ. I don't think that the structure of Vierne's symphony (four movements in two parts) and the closeness of the theme of the scherzo to that of Widor's 3rd scherzo are coincidental.
It can be added that Vierne's symphony is dedicated to Gabriel Fauré.
Still missing is a recording of his Ballade for violin and orchestra Op. 52.

[razorback]

For anyone interested, and it's certainly not me, the Symphony in A minor was also transcribed for organ and remains available on an edition-lade CD (EL CD 039).  The organist is Thomas Schmogner and the CD dates from 1998.  Go to www.edition-lade.com to find it.