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Sunday, October 18, 2020, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PMSymphony No. 5 by Louis Vierne
Grave - Allegro molto marcato - Tempo di scherzo ma non troppo vivo - Larghetto - Final
Played by organist David Hatt
This performance is part of the St. Mary’s Cathedral Vierne/Tournemire Festival. A free-will donation on the cathedral's Donation Page would be most appreciated.
CLICK HERE FOR THE YOUTUBE LIVESTREAM CHANNELThe composer: Louis Victor Jules Vierne (1870 - 1937) a French organist and composer, was official organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death. His compositions include six organ symphonies and a Messe solennelle for choir and two organs. On June 2, 1937, Vierne was performing a concert in Notre Dame for an audience of 3,000 people when he suffered a stroke, and died at the keyboard.
The artist: David Hatt has been Assistant Cathedral Organist at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco since 1998. During the first half of 2017 he also served as Interim Organist at Grace Cathedral. He earned the M.A. degree in Music in 1978 from U. C. Riverside, following organ study with Raymond Boese and composition study with Barney Childs at the University of Redlands. During this time he was also a member of the Redlands Improvisers Orchestra and worked for the Raymond Garner Co. rebuilding tracker organs. The influence of Childs led to performances at regional and national conventions of the Society of Composers, Inc. and the College Music Society.
He has been featured in the opera "I, Norton", by Gino Robair, about a famous San Francisco historical character. Dave has also appeared several times with the San Francisco Symphony, SF Girls Chorus, WomenSing and the SF Lyric Chorus.
His compositions and arrangements have been published by Wayne Leupold Editions, Darcey Press and Augsburg Fortress. Since 1998 he has presented several festivals of the music of Max Reger, including the sponsorship of Isabelle Demers.
Program Notes (by Andrew Larson): Absolutely one of the greatest compositions ever written. I don’t know where to begin with this stupendous musical achievement! Where did Vierne come up with this? This rises to the elite class of a great musical moment. The combination of astoundingly brilliant compositional inspiration with utterly profound musical expression is the hallmark of this work. The haunting Grave perfectly introduces the two main motifs or players in this vast drama. Brooding, reflective, tortured even can be adjectives to describe this opening movement. There are times I even hear echoes of Franck, especially the b minor Chorale. The passage in which Vierne calls for 16 ft Quintaton and 4 ft Flute is both weird and beautiful at the same time. Then he asks for that same passage to be played on the Gambe 8 ft and Octavin 2 ft for a very creepy effect.
Then comes the Allegro molto marcato. What a towering piece of symphonic writing. Unbelievably brilliant, and I can’t stop being impressed by the complexity (and technical difficulty) of many of the contrapuntal passages. After the extended introductory movement, Vierne prudently keeps the exposition relatively brief and gets right down to business with that incredible development section. Jeremy Filsell pointed out that the unexpected syncopated passage utilizing whole tone harmonies is actually the second theme inverte! The forward thrust and masterlyl working out of the material is breathtaking, and it leads into the fierce recapitulation with such energy. And that recap. Those unexpected and jagged unison lines and that ending A Major chord that is set up in such a non-traditional fashion.
Then there is the stunning Scherzo, which is both demented and fun. Vierne really adapted Paul Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice harmonies to the organ with such fantastic results. The two main themes of this symphony are worked out skillfully and one cannot listen to this without thinking of mischievous ghosts prancing around. Vierne really took this concept and wrung the most out of it in several of the Pieces de Fantasie as well as the Sixth Symphony Scherzo.
Then we arrive at the emotional centerpiece of this symphony: the Larghetto. This is the most beautiful, touching, and expressive slow movement I have ever heard, and when I finished hearing it I felt like I just heard someone tell me his life story. Nowhere else have I heard such an honest outpouring of emotion in a piece of music. Vierne holds nothing back, and what we get is a very intense musical articulation of melancholia, frustration, exacerbation, yet all throughout there is a string of hope. The ending further underscores this positive affirmation. What occurs between in this monumental edifice is simply jaw-dropping in its nuance, power, and almost raw expression.
The ending is so touching, and I paused before going to the Final. This movement demands the utmost in sensitivity from the organist, not to mention some harrowing passages of technical difficulties during the central section. I find it interesting that Vierne based much of this on the aforementioned inverted second theme that appeared in the Allegro.
And then that Final: What an immense achievement! In this firecracker of a finale, Vierne works out all of the remaining unresolved thematic and emotional elements from the previous four movements in an extremely complex and virtuosic movement. I am just in awe of any organist who can pull this one off successfully.......it is tremendously demanding. There are many passages of bafflingly intricate chromatic counterpoint that could be a study all in themselves. Emotionally, this movement really provides a huge transformation from the previous movements.
The ending is such a brilliant display of unbridled joy. But, we have to get through a whole lot of turbulence before we get there. The opening joyful tune (the primary theme of this symphony transformed) gets interrupted, as if Vierne is saying “wait now, I’m not yet done with the conflict, but this is the final coup de grace!” As stated previously, the final pages are truly triumphant.
