Widor – Master of the Organ Symphony

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Widor – Master of the Organ Symphony

A magnificent three-part documentary shows how Widor came to write his organ symphonies, how his compositional style developed and matured, and how these works fit into his overall career as a performer, teacher and writer. Presented by Gerard Brooks and featuring interviews with Widor scholars Daniel Roth, John Near and Anne-Isabelle de Parcevaux, this film also sets Widor’s organ music in the context of his work as a mainstream composer of operas, ballets, chamber music and orchestral symphonies.

Widor’s life was intertwined with that of the great French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Therefore Widor’s greatest organ works are recorded in mesmerising surround-sound on the three best surviving Cavaillé-Coll instruments, Saint-Sulpice in Paris, where Widor himself was organist for almost sixty years, Orléans Cathedral and Saint-Ouen in Rouen. Widor’s fifth and sixth symphonies are included in their entirety on both CD and DVD, performed by Gerard Brooks. Carolyn Shuster-Fournier and Daniel Roth, the current organist at Saint-Sulpice, perform a range of movements from the other symphonies.

from fugue state films

genres: documentary, music

duration: 5 hours

availability: worldwide

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1. Widor: Master of the Organ Symphony: Documentary Part 1

2. Widor: Master of the Organ Symphony: Documentary Part 2

3. Widor: Master of the Organ Symphony: Documentary Part 3

4. Widor: Performances in Concert by Daniel Roth at Saint-Sulpice

5. Widor: Symphonie Gothique opus 70 ii andante sostenuto

6. Widor: Symphonie no. 3 opus 13/3iii marcia

7. Widor: Symphonie no. 5 opus 42/1

8. Widor: Symphonie no. 6 opus 42/2