The Symphony No. 4 in F minor for organ, from Charles-Marie Widor's Op. 13 of 1876, is (like two of the other three "symphonies" of the opus) a work in six movements, and one that seems to have little to do with symphonic form as we normally understand it. Widor probably struck upon the idea of calling these new organ compositions "symphonies" more because of the deep and colorful orchestra-like textures possible on the massive organ for which he was writing (the Cavaillé-Coll organ) than because of any basis in the symphonic tradition. The first three movements of the Symphony No. 4 certainly seem un-symphonic enough: a brief, mock-improvisatory Toccata, a relatively brief Fugue, and the now-famous Andante cantabile in A flat major, so rich and thick that Widor was compelled to notate the final measures on four rather than the normal three staves. After this first threesome of movements, however, a certain resemblance to traditional symphonic shape does make itself plain. The fourth movement is a fleet-footed Scherzo in C minor, the most sizable movement yet to appear in the organ symphonies. Widor then supplies another A flat major slow movement, this time marked Adagio and filled, in the beginning at least, with sugary parallel tenths. A firm, even rigid Finale (Moderato) throws a massive, triple forte main theme, built from the same kind of stern dotted rhythms that Widor had already explored in the Marche pontificale from the Organ Symphony No. 1, against quieter, fluid eighth-note and triplet gestures.

© Blair Johnston, All Music Guide