MacDowell's Witches' Dance

I have a question about pedaling the first line of MacDowell's Witches' Dance. It shows to hold the fifth through the first 4 measures, presumably with the pedal. I can see how this would work on a grand piano with the sostenuto pedal, but what should I do on my upright piano?

 

Any chance you could maybe post an excerpt showing exactly what you're talking about? Seeing it in context would certainly help (as I am unfamiliar with the piece myself and the music doesn't seem to be available on the Sheet Music Archive, unless its a part of a larger work that is under a different name).

 

Witches Dance Excerpt

Enclosed find the first four bars of Witches Dance, notated with Finale(TM) software. In this example, the left hand's desired effect is shown as four measures' worth of tied notes. Upon striking the B-F# in the left hand, the player's left jumps up to the top stave and plays the stems-down notes.

Joe

 

Well in that case I'd probably just pedal the thing. Just hold it down through the passage. The tempo is very fast from the looks of it, so it actually isn't very long to be holding the pedal. The effect is probably what the composer intended. I don't think he wants a dry sound here.

 

is it just my ears or do I hear a similarity between Macdowell's piece and Liszt's Mephisto Waltz #1 (after the "Poco Allegeretto e rubato" at the start of the "Presto" page number 13 if you go off of the version on Sheet mUsic archive)?