What Toccata to play if you never played a Toccata before ?

Hello,

* Yes, I never played a toccata , so there is a time for everything , But I could use a few suggestions ,( starting with Widor's 5th is not what I have in mind , being an average player ), but i would like to play Boelman's Toccata one day

thanks in advance for your suggestions

Hans

As French toccatas go, the toccata by Gaston Belier is moderately easy:
http://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/5571

The score is on IMSLP, and has had a few errors corrected since I posted that recording back in 2011. I should do a new one...or perhaps you can post an update.

Erik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59z9lAMaW0o

Hans,

To put things into perspective, my playing is probably best described as "below average"!

If you just want to play any toccata then why not the toccata from BWW 565 - Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Ignore the fugue for now. The toccata is quite easy.

Alternatively, just stick with the Boëllmann (Suite Gothique). It is like a cut down version of the Widor 5, tune in the pedals, stabbed chords with left hand and twiddly bits with the right hand. It is not too difficult once you have jumped in, the tune repeats a few times so you only have to learn a little to play a lot.

The only problems for me were (still are ):

► Being able to play different rhythms with the left hand and the pedals;
► The part where it returns to the initial key.

The advantage is that when you have completed it, you can play a tune you like!

Regards,

Try the Toccata in G from Theodore Dubois. It is comparatively easy to play, but sounds very dramatic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59z9lAMaW0o

Thanks for showing a wonderful piece. Looking at the performance helped me to decide this is not for me.

Ernst

Hans,
...
Alternatively, just stick with the Boëllmann (Suite Gothique). ,

My teacher wants me to take that one on next! Big step up from the Prière à Notre-Dame.

I suppose another possibility is the Gigot...

YouTube Example, IMSP scores

But predicting what people find difficult is hard. I can't even work out what I will be able to play because I need weeks of practice before I can tell.

But predicting what people find difficult is hard. I can't even work out what I will be able to play because I need weeks of practice before I can tell.

Isn't it just? As the years go by I find that I haven't really gotten much better at picking what pieces will be difficult, or not as the case may be. Occasionally I will pick a piece that looks fairly simple to me and end up being completely thwarted by it!

One fairly reliable indicator though is whether the piece contains any performance techniques that you haven't encountered much before. If you are used to mainly contrapuntal baroque music, homophonic chordal music will initially be a challenge. If you've never used swell pedal before, that can be difficult. And so on.

The other side of the coin is that I often find that pieces I abandoned just a few years ago on the grounds of being too difficult, when attempted again are often relatively easy.

Hello Hans:

G.Young´s Prelude in classic style is a good option, and easier that other better known preludes quasi toccatas. it has a repetitive style.

http://www.organmusiconly.com/pdf/lorenz-70_1330l.pdf

Regards,
Luis

An early quite easy Toccata in C is by Bohuslav Cernohorsky - you can play it somewhat slow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa1sxfdaZMY, but of course it sounds better of played lively: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxPCnFSZlb0

H.M.

Bach's toccata in C.