The French composer Charles-Marie Widor is mainly remembered for his 10 symphonies for organ. In the first four organ symphonies Widor had gathered everything green and ripe: salon music, French patriotism, influences from Bach. His later symphonies, however, became increasingly coherent and monumental. Gregorian chant predominates in the last two symphonies, as if old age were accompanied by pious
… meditations. Still, Widor was far from old when he completed his Symphonie Romane (No. 10) in 1900. He still had a rich and active life to go before taking his last breath in 1937. This double CD shows the sporadic organ works that Widor composed after he had actually already completed his organ oeuvre. Here too - in the Suite Latine and the Trois Nouvelles Pièces - the meditative character predominates, supported by Gregorian themes such as Ave Maris Stella and Lauda Sion. The so-called Bach's Memento is a curiosity, but a fascinating curiosity. These are very free arrangements based on Bach, which are often just as wonderfully eccentric as those of Percy Grainger. (HJ)more
