There are two versions :
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0:00 at Salisbury, choosed because Vierne dedicated this piece to Henry Willis III (purists may object that Salisbury is a Willis I and not III :-) :-))
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7:02 on Aristide.
Rollin Smith relates that Vierne's quotation of Big Ben is not completely faithful (please see the attached piece).
Learning this piece was much longer and harder than expected because there are some awkward hand streches, although Vierne's music is generally rather merciful for small hands. I had to cheat :
- by modifying the disposition of half a dozen of chords, so that my hands could play them ;
- by taking some liberties with the infamous left hand A which has to be sustained with the 5th finger during 9 and 11 bars during the last part. I sustain him during only 9 and 4 bars. Some shame is better than a finger tendinitis.
The Salisbury version is probably a bit technically cleaner than the Aristide one (at least, I expect so...:-)). With Aristide, the 32ft reed arrives only at the very end because it seemed a bit too overwhelming here.