Guillou WIDOR Symphonie St Eustache with his cadenza

[lagny666]

BRAVO Jean GUILLOU !!! Jamais je ne me lasseré des vos interprétations et de vos oeuvres !!

[Brockett122]

Love his crazy hair

[tomandsuehunter1]

Now this is great, unlike his rendition of Liszt B-A-C-H.

[megaswenson]

Now THAT is how Widor is supposed to sound! Utterly transcendent!

[organ444]

Amazing skill, and so catchy too! loving the music, and the hair. Merci Mr. Guillou!

[thonyus]

We must remember, of course, that all musical developments were called obscene, until they were accepted. It would be interesting if we could listen to "experimental" Mozart with the ears of his contemporaries.

I hope, like many others here, that performances like this are not where organ performance is developing towards; I think this rendition is horrid, and profoundly disrespectful towards Maestro Widor. But maybe I am just a jealous Kappelmeister, like back in the good ole days.

[Organiste06]

Excellent, but that organ is not the best he has played on ...

[OrganPianoMusic]

@Organiste06 Yes that is right! This is a dutch instrument (van heuvel organ) so it is not THAT practical for french organ music!

[wouterschalkoort]

@OrganPianoMusic What do you mean by that?

[lee1984yate]

Wow - quite a well-held trill at the end!

[oneginee]

for those commenters who think they can improvise better than this man from any passage of their choice of Widor's 6th allegro let's see you doing better ! Come on seriously do it record yourself and post on youtube then let us comment... Improvising goes hand in hand with composing. And it is no coincidence that great work come from an era when improvising was well regarded whereas now it has become a lost tradition. thanks to the macabre mentality that thinks works are inert. wrong !

[theshow2k]

I don't know what you all are complaining about. "Parody" was a common technique in music ever since. Bach himself was a master in using and composing parody music (he parodised his contemproaries' music and his own). The reference can't always be heard - that's a characteristic "trademark" of this technique.

What do you expect when you see that you hear an edited version? For my part, I won't expect that Widor I'm used to.

You all seem to be very naive...

[advisorC101]

Disgusting. I feel very cheated knowing that this is the final result of "doing new things". In this case I'd be much happier being a "stiff-necked purist".

[organman52]

I agree 100% AdvisorC101, and I hasten to add that this man is deranged. Are we for a nanosecond supposed to believe that this is a viable performance of this masterpiece? If that is the intention, then I am disgusting beyond words. And if it NOT the intention, then WHAT THE F#%K is?

[willowthebored]

An interesting experiment, but I don't like it that much. It sounds better as written, I think. Guillou's style is unusual, and it produces some interesting renditions for academic purposes, but this isn't one of them; a more traditionalistic interpretation of the Widor 6th is superior to my ears. That said, kudos on that ridiculous pedalwork. I may not like it, but it's a feat nonetheless.

Incidentally, is it just the recording, or is the acoustic inside Saint Eustache really, really awful?

[advisorC101]

It IS just an experiment... or rather a perversion of nature as I see it. There are certain aspects of Guillou that I admire very much, but I can hardly say the same for what he does to the natural beauty of the work, in this case its nowhere to be found. Although it is an interesting little science project.

Oh, and before anyone tries to feed me their usual inane "lets see you do it better" prattle... Needs some serious ear cleaning. *runs*

[trevjr]

as a pianist i love organ music, esp. Bach, Widor and Dupre and Alain and Messiaen. i love the sound of all those pipes. i used to listen to the Wanamaker live back in the old days so maybe that sound stuck with me. this is great, i love Guillou, like the way he plays the Goldbergs too.organists are supposed to be daring, not boring. i played a concert wher Cochereau improvized fot about 40 minutes with a fugue at the end, its becoming a lost art.

[AndreaPianoPlayer]

E' un complotto, non è possibile che questo video in così poco tempo sia passato da 5 a 4 stelle. Dimostrazione ne è pure il punteggio dei voti. Sono allibito, qualcuno perfavore mi spieghi come sia possibile questa cosa... ma volete capire che è una cosa assurda? tutti i commenti CONTRO Guillou hanno punteggio positivo di 8, quelli A FAVORE 6. Urge spiegazione, o penso che segnalerò la cosa allo staff di youtube.

[AndreaPianoPlayer]

Non capisco perché i commenti a favore di Guillou hanno tutti 6 punti zotto lo zero, mentre gli altri hanno tutti 8 punti positivi, come diavolo è possibile? -.-

[tiarca]

merveilleux

un des derniers grand maitres de l'orgue de l'ecole DUPRES et immense improvisateur !!!!!! BRAVO maitre pour tout le bonheur musicale que vous donnez!!!!! on vous critique on vous blame pour votre exentricité mais ENFIN quelqu'un qui nous sort de la morosité ambiante et du conformisme. continuez comme ça

[orgaman]

je suis d'accord avec cous sur le fait qu'il fait parti des plus grands de l'école française de Marcel Dupré, mais je pense qu'on se souviendra de lui plus comme un compositeur (le génie est aussi dans sa musique c'est fantastique, parlant en connaissance de cause pour avoir joué deux de ses œuvres et comme un GÉNIAL improvisateur (certainement un des plus grands) plus que comme un interprète.

[GJmusique]

THIS is what mr. Guillou should do and have done more...

In stead of those uhm.. "rather atonal pieces"-

Seems to me more of a continuation of the french organ culture than anything done today on french organs......

[Beaudereck]

Tant de dogmes imbéciles dans vos commentaires, tant de dogmes...

[ertaulaz]

Es la reencarnacion de WIDOR¡

[ilt201]

I found it nice to listen too, as I guess all the Guillou fans. That's why he is the most famous organist in the world! You should get a tribune in a famous cathedral and do better...I'll be your fan!

[ilt201]

Je pense que Frantz Lizt s'il etait toujours vivant aurait improvise une telle cadenza, cela s'appelle creation artistique. De plus, cela ne gache rien quand c'est agreable a ecouter...

[redletterchurch]

I liked the cadenza...but not inserted into the original Widor music. A complete 10 minute improvization based on the 6th. symphony allegro movement might be very cool. Guillou's starting point is probably a good place to begin such an improvization. I just wish I had the skill to do it myself.

[cliveso]

@redletterchurch You are not talking about the Arthur Nobile Jr. crap, are you? :-)

Good or bad, correct or incorrect, it doesn't bother me the least. The cadenza itself is harmonically inconsistent with the rest of the piece (that's bad, perhaps), but so what? Guillou makes me smile inside -- I just love his eccentric ways. Imagine him having this eureka moment when he suddenly thought, "how about a crazy cadenza there?"

[AndreaPianoPlayer]

Sto studiando anche io il primo movimento di questa sinfonia. Percaso hanno pubblicato la partitura della Cadenza di Guillou?

[AndreaPianoPlayer]

Guillou è un grande interprete più unico che raro del repertorio romantico sinfonico a mio parere e mi stupisco degli imbecilli che hanno dato meno di 5 stelle alla esecuzione (e anche improvvisazione).

[Organiste06]

De plus, l'esprit symphonique est bien présent, ce qui a tout de même son importance

[Organiste06]

Je ne vois pas pourquoi on contesterait le fait même d'improviser à cet endroit de la pièce ! Il n'y a aucun mal à cela. Je ne vois vraiment pas ce qu'en peux lui reprocher ! Après, bien sûr, on peut critiquer son improvisation et son interpretation même, mais le fait d'improviser n'est pas banale du tout, surtout lorsqu'il est fait avec un brio tel que celui de Jean Guillou ! Non, vraiment, Jean Guillou est un très très grand organiste ! Bravo, Monsieur !

[bachprofessore]

Guillou makes it sound fantastic, and his improvisations are great, too. But I like the version of this piece by Daniel Roth more.

The Organ is great, but I could't believe that a huge Organ in a graet French Church was buit by a firm from the Netherlands!

[ebach1]

it is more interesting than the original:)

[vallebona]

Non dire castronerie. Guillou nel suo genere (musica organistica moderna) è il più grande! Certo a suonare Bach non mi pace, li c'è Ton Koopman che E' il più bravo sul pianeta.

Guillou nel suo genere è il N° 1

[dulzian64]

I actually heard this interpretation before I ever heard the original movement by Widor. I like the sound of it.  It's strange but awesome!!

[lwnf360]

Agreed--and I've never been there in my life!

The piece is barely recognizable when he attempts to play it correctly. It is unrecognizable most of the time.

Maybe this guy was a master organist at one time, but that time passed by long ago.

[johannuscro]

Oh, you don't let Guillou to improvise candenza here, than what should I say when I hear Bach on piano???

[biblosz]

I think many organist and organ lover are misunderstand, (or simplify dont understand) Guillou's art, improvisations, and interpretations. These three movements and details of the music mind, and aesthetics are mixed, and connected organic, not only at Guillou, but all composers. Beethoven, Liszt, Bartok also improvised, and interpret diffrent the former composers. For example, cadenza of Mozart Piano Conerto in d minor composed by Beethoven, and it remained the Cadenza of that work.

[apietrini]

ben voyons...

[marsvltor2]

Couldn't agree more that we're different individuals now; however, if Guillou's performance WAS an improvement, I'd agree with your views on tradition. Roth's performance has one on the edge of one's seat (wonderful interpretation of the composer's thoughts); Guillou's, on the other hand, makes one wonder 'why bother'. And adding a cadenza isn't exactly new - Handel was doing it in his organ concerti nearly three centuries ago...

[marsvltor2]

I'm just thankful that Widor was not organist at Eustache! I shudder to think what the great man's ghost would think of this...

[marsvltor2]

Just listen to Roth from 5:20 to rejoin the work as it should be played...

[marsvltor2]

My last rant! Says a lot that after the cadenza, with M Guillou decides to return to Widor proper, we don't see him play it: we just get end titles!

[COSTEDOIT]

Béni soit Guillou, grâce à qui la musique de Widor dure !

[fromkhajuraho]

j ai souvent remarque que c est les pires organistes ennuyeux qui critiquent allegrement guillou. un peu de modestie et de realisme.

[Organiste06]

Qu'est ce qu'une cadenza ?

En tout cas, la video est parfaite: la prise de son est impeccable, l'orgue à une richesse d'expression qui me laisse bouche bée, l'organiste a un sens de l'orchestration tel que je ne l'ai jamais vu et la registration est de toute beauté, bien qu'elle ne met pas assez en valeur la richesse harmonique du texte.

[fromkhajuraho]

c est une improvisation libre au cours d un morceau ecrit. handel faisait ca dans ces concertos

[Orionman8]

Time: 2:44 minutes. Here start the cadenza.

[amenophis972]

Great interpretation and Splendide Improvisation on this part of the final

[eczkiekuku]

what do people write such symphonies for? it's even emptier than Liszt, and has no charm at all. dozens of thousands of pipes, that's all. a two-part invention by Bach is worth more. caricatural:/

[Saurencaerthai]

Some people say what they need to say with a single clapped line, others with hour long operas, others screaming distortion. One works with whatever means they deem necessary to convey their message.

[Organiste06]

Sorry, all Widor's Symphonies.

[Organiste06]

Did Guillou record all the Widor's Symphonies?

[a55b47]

To call this an "interpretation" of Widor completely re-defines that word. This is a complete re-writing of Widor. It's not Widor, it's not even Guillou playing Widor, it's Guillou with few few Widor-like embellishments.

[Ciloster82]

Fantastic

[ufni3p]

Once again Guillou succeded in making a caricature of a wonderfull piece,it's like he's making fun of the composer. I'm not against being original or creatif but this is really decadent(as are most of his 'interpretations') And the problem is that he produced an army of identical clones(were is there creativity?) so I'm afraid we are stuck with this noncence for quiet a while.

[jmeister321684]

I have this "version" of Widor's Allegro at Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco)in 1984 along with St-Saens Symphonie avec orgue; for doing this cadenza, Jean Guillou had to be the one, and he gave it a remarkable original result, whatsoever the critics say again! JW

[tadaemdg]

I am thoroughly disgusted. Completely ridiculous 'interpretation' and 'cadenza'. What's the point in doing that? Was Widor not a great enough composer?

[widor78]

Excellent!

[fromkhajuraho]

tu m etonnes, simone. ya pas mieux.