Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3

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[In Urbs Roma] Kantorow elicits vigorous playing, with sharp contrasts, and manages the imaginative die-away ending with sensitivity...this performance [of the Organ Symphony] is almost entirely... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2021, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 1st Oct 2021
Catalogue No: BIS2470
Label: BIS
Length: 74 minutes

Diapason d'Or

September 2021

Nouveauté

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Saint-Saëns: Symphonie en fa Urbs Roma

Work length39:24

$6.60

$12.85

$17.50

Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège
Jean-Jacques Kantorow

I. Largo - Allegro

Track length10:34

$1.50

$3.85

$5.25

II. Molto vivace

Track length5:46

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Moderato, assai serioso

Track length11:52

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

IV. Poco allegretto - Andante con moto

Track length11:12

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 'Organ Symphony'

Work length34:57

Album only

$10.35

$14.00

Thierry Escaich
Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège
Jean-Jacques Kantorow

I. Adagio - Allegro moderato - Poco adagio

Track length19:13

Album only

$5.15

$7.00

IIa. Allegro moderato - Presto

Track length7:20

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

IIb. Maestoso - Allegro

Track length8:24

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

About
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About

The present album is the second of two recorded by the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and Jean-Jacques Kantorow to commemorate the centenary of the death of Camille Saint-Saëns. On the first instalment the team offered us ‘deeply impressive performances in stunning sound’ (theclassicreview.com) of the composer’s first and second symphonies and the unnumbered Symphony in A major, but now the time has come for Saint-Saëns’ crowning glory in the symphonic genre: his Symphony No. 3 in C minor, generally known as the ‘Organ Symphony’. The work was composed in 1886, and Saint-Saëns had planned to dedicate it to Liszt but the latter’s death the same year caused the dedication in the published score to be modified to ‘in memory of Franz Liszt’. It is written for a larger orchestra than his previous symphonies, with the unusual addition of a piano and an organ – the two instruments that Liszt (and Saint-Saëns himself) favoured. Without being a virtuoso vehicle, the organ part is central to the work – especially in the grandiose ending – and it is here performed by the renowned organist Thierry Escaich, playing the great organ of Liège’s Salle Philharmonique. On the disc, the symphony is preceded by the ‘Urbs Roma’ symphony, composed in 1856 by a 21-year-old Saint-Saëns. It was written for a competition, and its title – ‘the city of Rome’ – was one of the subjects prescribed by the organisers. In the absence of an explanation by the composer, it is unclear how the music relates to the subject. Another enigma is why Saint-Saëns omitted the symphony from his catalogue of works, even though it actually won him a first prize. In consequence, ‘Urbs Roma’ remained unpublished until 1974 and is rarely heard even today.

Reviews

December 2021

[In Urbs Roma] Kantorow elicits vigorous playing, with sharp contrasts, and manages the imaginative die-away ending with sensitivity...this performance [of the Organ Symphony] is almost entirely excellent.

November 2021

There are many striking things in this new account – listen, say, to the near frenzy Kantorow finds in the Scherzo, or to how sweetly the woodwinds of the Liège Royal Philharmonic sing their lyrical lines.

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3

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