Symphony No 8 - Finale (Widor) G D Cunningham

George Cunningham plays the organ of Alexandra Palace, London.

This a track from Beulah 1PD5 "Historic London Organs"

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Category:

Music

Tags:

• organ
• widor
• cunningham
• alexandra
• london

[Owdfolkie]

Had anyone noticed the pitch is a full tone too high? I just tried lowering it by a full tone in SoundForge, along with the slowing down that comes with it, and it doesn't sound half as bad... maybe someone messed about with it!

Hmmmm...!

[A60stock]

@Owdfolkie The Alexander Palace organ was tuned that way. It was in the days before standard pitch.

[Owdfolkie]

@A60stock The old 'High Pitch' (also known as 'Band Pitch' because brass and military bands used it) wasn't a full tone up, only a semitone plus a few cents. I have a concertina in high pitch. The AP organ was re-tuned to modern concert pitch in 1939... it is probable this was recorded before the re-tune. He died 11 days before I was born...

The use of high pitch was influenced largely by cost, as less of the expensive spotted metal was needed.

[mshorthose]

Who is the proof-reader for the album cover?

Alexander Palace?

Way too fast - I agree!

Check out Ben van Oosten's recording shown on the list to the right (at the time of writing).

[passitelexk43]

Grandioso, abbiamo la Tv , i network..

ma tutto questo non lo avrete mai!

festivals faraonici , che paghiamo ..noi,

ma non avremo mai queste emozioni.

Lode al solo ed unico Dio!

[advisorC101]

Very true, this is much too fast. To the point where I feel its rushed in fact.

[GJmusique]

"Tempo Giusto" means 'the right tempo'. Just have a look at the other Finale's Widor wrote and then compare the tempi. This is played twice as fast and then some of your regular toccata. I can barely hear any details, great organist or not.

Even Diane Bish would faint when hearing this tempo =P

[chwidder]

"Tempo giusto" can mean two somewhat different things: either "strict tempo" as explained by Owdfolkie, or "the right tempo", in the sense of "the tempo that best suits the character of this particular piece of music".

Both meanings occur, and I'm not sure which one Widor was thinking of.

(For what it's worth, he wrote crotchet=96 in the score, but that is of course only an indication, depending e.g. on the acoustics of the venue.)

[Owdfolkie]

Oops! 'Giusto'!!

[Owdfolkie]

'Tempo Guisto' is not a speed, but an instruction to play without any rubato... literally it means 'strict time'...