Charles-Marie Widor
Charles-Marie Widor wrote ten organ symphonies that treat the instrument as a full orchestra, from the blazing Toccata of the Fifth to the plainsong-haunted Gothique and Romane. His Mass for two choirs and two organs is rarer ceremonial splendour.
The great Cavaillé-Coll organs gave him colour, swell and power enough to invent the organ symphony. Early sets still feel like suites; the later ones refine counterpoint and, in the Ninth and Tenth, turn inward on chant. The famous Toccata from Symphony No. 5 still closes weddings and Christmas Masses, though Widor himself preferred it measured and articulate rather than a scramble. Beyond the organ he wrote songs, chamber music, operas and a ballet, yet it is the organ writing that keeps sounding: processional grandeur, singing Andantes, and finales built for stone and air.
Compositions by Charles-Marie Widor appear on
Historic Organs of the Barossa Valley, Vol. 2
Christopher Dearnley and John Stiller play seven historic Lutheran church organs of South Australia’s Barossa Valley in the second volume of this survey.
Festival of Organ Masterpieces
Douglas Lawrence plays favourite organ repertoire on the instrument of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne, spanning nearly three centuries of transcriptions and original works.
Victoria Brass Live
A top-class Australian brass band under Matthew van Emmerik in a full, varied programme of innovative repertoire: two world premieres, three Australasian premieres, and some well-loved classics.
Sing to the Lord, ye Heavenly Hosts
The Choir of The Scots' Church offers sacred music from sixteenth-century Palestrina to twenty-first-century Australian composer Andrew Batterham, crowned by a rare performance of Widor's Mass for choir, baritone choir and two organs.