Live in Concert 26.03.14 - LPO/Yannick Nézet-Séguin: French music

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30 p.m.
Live from the Royal Festival Hall


Poulenc, Berlioz and Saint-Saëns: An Organ Celebration at Southbank Centre's Pull Out All The Stops festival.
Francis Poulenc: Concerto in G minor for organ, strings and timpani
Hector Berlioz: Les nuits d'été
Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 in C minor (Organ)

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
James O'Donnell, organ
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

It has taken eight years to refurbish the grand organ of Royal Festival Hall, and the instrument resounds anew in this concert of French music including two of the most popular pieces for organ and orchestra.
Poulenc's Organ Concerto is a gregarious romp that spins off the music of the greatest organist who ever lived, Johann Sebastian Bach. The Organ Symphony by Saint-Saëns is justly famous for its awe-inspiring majesty and brilliance, worlds apart from the delicate, luminous nocturnal songs by Berlioz that separate the two.

[Barbirollians]

The organ works should be fun and it will be interesting to hear the RFH organ .

Sarah Connolly singing the Nuits d Ete looks very much the highlight though.

[edashtav]

Wagner Cum Gounod Whipped up with Danse Macabre Sauce

An Early Response to Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony

From the Pall Mall Gazette 20.05.1886

(report of a Philharmonic Concert in which Saint-Saens conducted the world premiere performance of his Symphony after having played a Beethoven piano concerto before the interval)

... M. Saint-Saens required a full orchestra, a grand piano and a big organ for his symphony last night. Every resource of musical sound was exhausted and all the science of harmony ransacked for effects – but after all there were not more than half–a-dozen bars here and there that we should ever care to hear again. As for the piano, it might as well have been left out, as it was quite smothered and more or less irrelevant. The organ was occasionally effective, and a few majestic combinations of a broad choral character kindled expectation and hope not destined to be realised; but, after all, the Wagner-cum-Gounod sort of score whipped up with “Danse-Macabre” sauce, is a somewhat dreary affair.

[Barbirollians]

An Early Response to Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony

From the Pall Mall Gazette 20.05.1886

(report of a Philharmonic Concert in which Saint-Saens conducted the first British performance of his Symphony after having played a Beethoven piano concerto before the interval)

... M. Saint-Saens required a full orchestra, a grand piano and a big organ for his symphony last night. Every resource of musical sound was exhausted and all the science of harmony ransacked for effects – but after all there were not more than half–a-dozen bars here and there that we should ever care to hear again. As for the piano, it might as well have been left out, as it was quite smothered and more or less irrelevant. The organ was occasionally effective, and a few majestic combinations of a broad choral character kindled expectation and hope not destined to be realised; but, after all, the Wagner-cum-Gounod sort of score whipped up with “Danse-Macabre” sauce, is a somewhat dreary affair.

Well it seems to have outlived the Pall Mall Gazette.

[edashtav]

Well it seems to have outlived the Pall Mall Gazette.

and your point?

[Prommer]

Should be a cracker! I will be there...sitting in the Choir - yikes!

[Barbirollians]

Should be a cracker! I will be there...sitting in the Choir - yikes!

Lucky you sounds like a fun concert indeed. I recall hearing the Saint saens at Sheffield City Hall many moons ago and the SCH organ made a splendid sound in it too .

[Nick Armstrong]

Should be a cracker! I will be there...sitting in the Choir - yikes!

Good luck with those lug-holes!

I'll be there too, in the stalls. Really looking forward to it!

The Saint-Saens is one of those rare things for me, the warhorse that's always welcome - I love it and although it's been on at least twice in the last fortnight when I've switched on Radio 3, I never get that sinking feeling. Never heard it live, though. Also a fan of the Poulenc though I have heard that several times live.

[Barbirollians]

Good luck with those lug-holes!

I'll be there too, in the stalls. Really looking forward to it!

The Saint-Saens is one of those rare things for me, the warhorse that's always welcome - I love it and although it's been on at least twice in the last fortnight when I've switched on Radio 3, I never get that sinking feeling. Never heard it live, though. Also a fan of the Poulenc though I have heard that several times live.

It is a work very much to be heard live - really gets the adrenalin going in the finale !

[gedsmk]

It is a work very much to be heard live - really gets the adrenalin going in the finale !

As would be the Jongen Symphonie Concertante. How I wish that were on tonight!

[Barbirollians]

As would be the Jongen Symphonie Concertante. How I wish that were on tonight!

Not very French though .

[Barbirollians]

That was probably the most enjoyable Poulenc Organ Concerto performance I have ever heard- the Nuits d Ete was a bit earthbound for my taste .

[edashtav]

Great Performances of Polenc and Saint-Saens

That was probably the most enjoyable Poulenc Organ Concerto performance I have ever heard- the Nuits d Ete was a bit earthbound for my taste .

With you 100% Barbirollians over the Poulenc. It suited RFH organ, James O'Donnell, the LPO and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, its conductor, like a hand fits a glove. It was full of colour, power, humour, sharp rhythms and all the fun of the fair. An exceptional performance.

I warmed to the Nuits d'Ete more than you did and felt that it formed a great contrast to the programme's opener.

The Saint-Saens Organ Symphony received an astonishingly revealing performance. Again, the finest live peformance that I've sat through and the organ was caught by the BBC engineers absolutely brilliantly. I wish I'd joined caliban in the RFH. Saint-Saens reminds me, in some ways, of Richard Strauss : total mastery of his medium, a wonderful scorer for orchestra - but , is he a little heartless, lacking the depth, gravitas and profundity that one finds in different measure in Bruckner or Mahler, for instance? But... on the other hand there's an " awe and wonder" in his scores, a knowledge of an existence beyond this world that is, for me, a prototype of passages in Carl Nielsen.

Once again O'Donnell and the LPO were in crackling form.

This was a really great concert, with an imaginative and satisfying programme, and I shall treasure it's memory. Well done, one and all!

[Petrushka]

This sounded absolutely stunning on my system via Freeview. Presumably the BBC again used the LPO's own feed for this relay which means that we are getting top notch sound on LPO concerts these days. I only know the Poulenc from the LSO/Previn/Simon Preston disc, coincidentally also recorded in the RFH and am in full agreement with Barbirollians and edashtav about this one. I've never been that enthusiastic about the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony but this seemed as good as it gets.

One for the LPO label?

[gedsmk]

Not very French though .

French-speaking Belgian do? Many parts of it sound pretty French to me.
I was there tonight, and it was splendid; the pedal department sounds far richer and more enveloping in the hall than it did before the rebuild. The balance between orchestra and organ worked very well indeed.
Not having heard the Saint-Saens live for about 20 years it was really thrilling to hear such a tight, warm, and joyous performance.