Charles-Marie Widor: Suite in B minor for piano, op. 58

Bradley Berg, piano Charles Marie-Widor (1844-1937) Suite en si mineur pour piano, op. 58 (first published 1887) I. Moderato (00:10) II. Scherzo. Allegro pesante (10:22) III. Recordare. Andantino (16:15) IV. Final. Allegro con brio (18:12) THE SUITE: Widor composed the monumental piano suite that would become his 58th opus in between two equally monumental symphonies for organ, the 7th and the 8th, in 1887. He was in his seventeenth year as organist of the Saint-Sulpice cathedral in Paris, whose instrument, rebuilt by Cavaillé-Coll in 1862, ranked among the finest in the world. The spacious confines of the cathedral and its powerful organ, capable of summoning a range of effects that approached and in some ways surpassed those of a symphony orchestra, surely influenced the techniques that Widor employed in this piano suite: extended melodic themes, extreme dynamic range (ppp to fff), full use of the piano’s register, inventive micro-variations suggesting different stops/manuals, and multi-voice contrapuntal dialogues. While Widor was a self-proclaimed “excellent” pianist, his reputation as an organ virtuoso nonetheless remained his primary distinction. The Suite in B minor for piano is the most compelling surviving evidence of Widor’s masterly piano writing. The only known public performance of it during Widor’s lifetime was in 1909, when the 65-year-old Widor himself was supposed to perform the difficult work until Émile Frey stepped in for an unknown reason. The suite has since remained completely obscure to even the most adventurous pianists, as if Widor’s highly individual piano writing is not taken seriously in light of his reputation as an important organist. The first movement begins as an apparent (though untitled) theme and variations with an imposing 22-bar theme, a shadowy anti-hymn in the depths of the piano. Its melodic and harmonic character is marked by a chromatic design, in which it traverses all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, primarily by a series of sinking descents. After this quasi-twelve-tone, albeit tonal, exposition, two variations of the main theme ensue. Yet fragments of these variations will return later in the middle of the movement, which resembles the development section of sonata form, as well as in its final bars. The “development” (beginning with the section marked dolce, C# minor) is effectively another variation in itself, which is framed on both sides by an alternate “B” theme and its episode, highly chromatic and seemingly without tonality (in a similar sense as Liszt’s “Bagatelle sans tonalité”) in that it avoids any stable key areas. As a whole, this unique movement might be considered a hybrid variation-sonata form. The second movement, an energetic and powerful Scherzo, is practically an octave étude in the technique it demands. The minor second and its inversion, the seventh, is prominently featured throughout the movement, suggesting a link with the “B” theme of the first movement and its chromatic nature in general. An elegiac andante trio provides needed respite for the listener and performer at the center of the piece. The third movement “Recordare,” or remembrance, ruminates on the first movement’s themes and its initial variations in the form of an improvisation. It leads attacca into the Finale, whose two-part main theme is once again chromatically structured (its melody uses 11 of 12 possible tones) though, symmetrically opposed to the first, it primarily ascends rather than descends. With several variations of this first theme presented in an extended rondo-like form, the movement culminates by combining three of the primary themes/rhythmic motifs before a climactic chromatic ascent on the final page, which offers perhaps the best pianistic estimation of a Cavaillé-Coll organ at full force. THE SCORE: This recently rediscovered score is a previously unknown revision of the Suite, which was originally published in 1887 and republished at least once at a later date. The heavily-edited score in this video shows corrections and revisions in Widor’s own hand, evidence of his lifelong habit of reworking older ideas. Though often messy, the pages show the intensity of Widor’s creative process as he crossed out entire measures and altered rhythms, melodies, dynamic markings, and repeat signs to refine his original vision. “ ” signs indicate changes that Widor wanted to make. Occasional light pencil markings were made on a scanned copy by the performer. #pianoteq #classicalpiano