Organ works by Poulenc & Saint-Saëns

CD: Organ works by Poulenc & Saint-Saëns

Poulenc Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings and Timpani
Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ)

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
James O’Donnell organ
London Philharmonic Orchestra

Poulenc’s Organ Concerto is an extraordinary mixture of high drama and tongue-in-cheek music that could accompany a chase sequence, interspersed with beautiful reflective episodes. Scored for just strings and timpani accompaniment, it nevertheless packs a dramatic and emotional punch. By contrast, Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony uses the instrument as just a part of a full orchestral palette in a work of mouthwatering clarity and narrative depth. Marcel Proust proclaimed it ‘the most beautiful of symphonies since Beethoven’s’.

Both works were recorded during the Pull Out All The Stops festival launching the refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ, complete for the first time since 2005.

CD booklet includes full organ specification and an article on the history and refurbishment of the organ by its curator, Dr William McVicker.

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