Widor Editions

[Martin Cooke 0]

Some advice please. A young organist has asked me for some advice on which edition to go for with Widor symphonies. My own organ music is half a mile away at the moment and I can't quite thing what I've got. All editions look the same (not including the OUP version of the Symph 5 Toccata in the Wedding Music album) . He has seen two volumes by Dover which are very reasonably priced. Are these any good for performance? They are large enough to use and, as I say, look just like photo-ed versions of whatever edition it is that I use. What should he do?

Martin.

[martin_greenwood 0]

Some advice please. A young organist has asked me for some advice on which edition to go for with Widor symphonies. My own organ music is half a mile away at the moment and I can't quite thing what I've got. All editions look the same (not including the OUP version of the Symph 5 Toccata in the Wedding Music album) . He has seen two volumes by Dover which are very reasonably priced. Are these any good for performance? They are large enough to use and, as I say, look just like photo-ed versions of whatever edition it is that I use. What should he do?

Martin.

I've got the Dover edition and wished I hadn't. I gather there are various versions of the Symphonies resulting from Widor's own amendments, and AMT told me that the ones in the Dover edition aren't those typically used in performance. Aside from that, the binding is the worst I've ever come across and after only 3 months use I've got pages falling out.

 

Sq.

[john carter 0]

Some advice please. A young organist has asked me for some advice on which edition to go for with Widor symphonies. My own organ music is half a mile away at the moment and I can't quite thing what I've got. All editions look the same (not including the OUP version of the Symph 5 Toccata in the Wedding Music album) . He has seen two volumes by Dover which are very reasonably priced. Are these any good for performance? They are large enough to use and, as I say, look just like photo-ed versions of whatever edition it is that I use. What should he do?

Martin.

The Dover publications are early versions of the score and there are some significant differences from later editions, the last page of the Toccata from Symphony 5 is quite a surprise if you aren't expecting it. These editions are fine for those of us who are able to compare later versions and make handwritten amendments, but I wouldn't personally recommend them for a young organist. As I have written elsewhere in the forum, I use a Belwin/Warner Brothers edition which is similarly reasonably priced, well printed and bound. My copy of Symphonies 1-5 came from Chappells. I use Dover for 6-10 with many bits of manuscript pasted in - must do something about it one day!

JC

[Jonathan Lane 0]

I'm afraid to say, that there is no shortcut to getting good editions, I use three different editions of some of the symphonies. As mentioned, the end of Widor 5 Toccata in the Dover edition is quite a shock, and I always play this from Hamelle, however, as I think I have mentioned elsewhere, there are differences in movements in some of the symphonies. I think later editions as a rule are better, but perhaps more distant from Widor's original thoughts. And of course, then there's the Trois Nouvelle Pieces!

 

Jonathan

[acc 0]

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[Jonathan Thorne 0]

There is another cheap edition like Dover which does have versions usually played or should I say the last revision. You can get them from Allegro music and the publisher I think is either Warner of Belwin Mills.

[Fiffaro 0]

I'd go for John Near's edition published by AR editions. Not exactly cheap, but well worth its price.

 

And for those who would like some more information on why certain other editions are best avoided, see:

http://www.areditions.com/rr/embellish/1997_02/widor.html

[jonadkins 0]

Some advice please. A young organist has asked me for some advice on which edition to go for with Widor symphonies. My own organ music is half a mile away at the moment and I can't quite thing what I've got. All editions look the same (not including the OUP version of the Symph 5 Toccata in the Wedding Music album) . He has seen two volumes by Dover which are very reasonably priced. Are these any good for performance? They are large enough to use and, as I say, look just like photo-ed versions of whatever edition it is that I use. What should he do?

Martin.

 

I should avoid the Dover also because it seems to have been contrived to have the maximum number of unnecessary page turns, particularly in pieces which are only two sides long (eg the fourth movement of Widor's fifth).

[andyorgan 0]

I do quite enjoy the Dover editions, though I can see some of the shortcomings. Much of this was covered a few months ago in this thread Widor Editions