2 pianos 8 hands: Toccata from Suite gothique by Boëllmann (scrolling score)

Léon Boëllmann (1862–1897)
Suite gothique pour orgue, Op. 25 (1895)
IV. Toccata (arr. Léon Roques for 2 pianos 8 hands in 1915)
Performed by PianoCurio

I had been searching for a good, spooky work to feature this Halloween when I came across this vintage arrangement of Boëllmann’s famous piece on IMSLP. When I didn’t immediately find an existing recording of it (what, nobody has 2 pianos, 8 hands and a microphone just laying around?), then I knew this was the perfect chance to try an 8-hands piece myself. The music and composer need no introduction, so I’ll share more about my production process here instead.

My recording setup using Pianoteq instruments was a pair of New York and Hamburg Steinways with a big hall reverb from Altiverb. I recorded each part using a click track at 132 bpm with only two ad lib. diversions, the brief ritardando in the middle and the one at the end. It’s easy for 4 parts to become a jumbled mess especially with all of the sixteenths, so recording in MIDI allowed me to notch some of the slightly unsynchronized notes into their correct positions. Still, I left most of the raw performance intact to achieve the realism of a live performance.

There are many organ works that sound fantastic when transcribed for two or more pianists (Alkan’s Impromptu on Luther’s Chorale, Op. 69 arranged for two pianos by Roger Smalley comes to mind). That’s not to say they are missing anything in their original form, but the piano’s more direct, percussive quality allows quicker pieces like this one with dense textures to really shine in a different way. Two pianos still can’t compete with the sheer sonic size of the full organ. Even so, this arrangement makes a work of moderate difficulty quite accessible for four pianists and it is still very musically effective. It would be an ideal encore piece for a studio or collaborative piano recital.

Happy Halloween 2024!

00:00 soft
01:21 louder
02:21 LOUD
03:09 LOUDEST
03:25 Appraisal