AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGAN MUSIC OF LOUIS VIERNE, SELECTED, ANNOTATED, AND EDITED ON THREE STAVES BY ROLLIN SMITH. Wayne Leupold Editions 600210. If ever a composer was "guided from above" in creating repertory for his instrument, it was Louis Vierne, whose organ works come in all keys and all sizes. The easiest and most approachable of these is the 24 Pièces en style libre, op. 31 (1914), but in keeping with the fashion of the time, Vierne designed the publication as if it were not just for the organ, but pour l'orgue ou harmonium. In so doing, his intended divisions between the two hands were obscured by the apparent non-obbligato role of the pedal, and this has served as a source of confusion, and as an outright deterrent to many organists. What Rollin Smith has done in the present edition is to posit a new three-staved layout that serves to restore Vierne's intended division between the hands, and to clarify the role of the pedal, in contradistinction to the compromised character of the two-staved original. In some instances, this is easier said than done, since the sources are not always unambiguous. The twelve selections are the Préambule, Arabesque, Lied, Légende, Berceuse, Prélude, Madrigal, Postlude, Carillon de Longpont, Cortège, Scherzetto, and Divertissement. These are rounded-out with the inclusion of five additional selections: Verset Fugué sur In exitu Israël (1894), Communion, op. 8, Élévation from the Messe Basse, op. 30, Adagio from Symphony 3, and Carillon de Westminster from the 24 Pièces en fantaisie. The five additional selections are interspersed among the style libre pieces, and the collection as a whole is intended as a pedagogical progression from the less difficult to the more difficult. It is worth noting, however, that Smith's own assessments of the style libre selections in terms of their relative difficulty do not necessarily accord with those of the maître, who taught these pieces often, and who reckoned the Cortége and the Madrigal among the easier numbers, and the Arabesque and the Légende among the more difficult. Also, as a pedagogical "apex," the Carillon de Westminster, long popular as a crowd-pleaser (especially among anglophiles) is not at the same time one of Vierne's most inspired or inspiring works––for that, we need look (among the Pièces en fantaisie) toward the Hymne au soleil, or the Feux follets, or the Clair de lune. The extensive preface, with over twenty pages devoted to Vierne's touch, phrasing, repeated notes, common notes, ritards, rubato, fingering, expression, registration, tempo, etc., and also to the mechanical and tonal characteristics of the Cavaille-Coll organ (with special reference to the world-famous instrument over which Vierne presided from 1900 to 1937), is a necessary preliminary study for anyone seriously interested in this music. The commentary on the individual pieces, and the text-criticism pertaining to the respective pieces, are in two separate places however, at the front and back of the book, and it would have been more desirable had the commentary and text-criticism appeared together in a single location––and also, in the proper order, i.e., in the order in which they appear within the edition itself, rather than in the alphabetical, ascending-key order in which they were originally issued. The 24 Pièces en style libre, it will be recalled, was originally a two-volume issue, and since Rollin Smith––the author of Louis Vierne, Organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral (Pendragon Press, 1999)––is probably the most indefatigable proponent for this music among American organists, perhaps a subsequent, second installment in this "annotated performer's edition" series will sometime be forthcoming.