BaL 17.02.24 - Saint-Saëns: Symphony no. 3 in C minor Op. 78

[Sir Velo]

Isn’t a Garlic charm something you use to ward off vampires ?

Bloody predictive text - swear I typed "Gallic" (sic)!

[Barbirollians]

Interestingly, Marc Rochester also stated that Saint Saens had written to his publisher to suggest that big French romantic organs would be wrong for a piece written for a small London concert hall organ.

[Nick Armstrong]

Guillou… drawing attention to himself like a third viola player wearing an inflatable Eiffel Tower on his head

I love it

I look forward to hearing AL’s final choice in its entirety for myself (I never have)

Excellent BAL, as many have said. I agree with a lot of the points made above - e.g. the Nezet-Seguin/LPO sounded over-driven, dry & soulless, the Wayne Marshall sounded hideous (how did Mariss Jansons ever approve that? The organ noise sounded like an enormous flatulent elephant sitting on the orchestra)… I rather took to the extract from the Duruflé/Prêtre version but it sounds like it went off the rails at other points (need to listen for myself).

PS

The review seems to be kicking off with a rather arcane extended discussion of the balance between organ and orchestra in the final movement. Bit of a misjudgment in my view.

I thought that was a rather instructive way to start off. Followed by that rhythmic analysis which I must say rather defeated my cloth ears

[Nick Armstrong]

Interestingly, Marc Rochester also stated that Saint Saens had written to his publisher to suggest that big French romantic organs would be wrong for a piece written for a small London concert hall organ.

I wonder what the organ in St James’s Hall was?

In terms of acoustic, the place certainly looks to have Cathedral-like spaciousness:

[silvestrione]

I thought that was a rather instructive way to start off. Followed by that rhythmic analysis which I must say rather defeated my cloth ears

Glad to see you say that. I tried to believe I was following it! She'd had the benefit of Mark Elder's slow-motion tutoring of the Halle; though, as a choir trainer, no doubt pretty sharp-eared herself!

[HighlandDougie]

A used copy of the Eloquence reissue of the de Waart/SFSO version (which also includes the Haitink RCO Bizet Symphony and Jeux d'Enfants) arrived earlier. It is just as good as it seemed on BaL. Very well balanced recording. Anyway, that's my annual listening of S-S 3 done for the year.

[Nick Armstrong]

Glad to see you say that. I tried to believe I was following it! She'd had the benefit of Mark Elder's slow-motion tutoring of the Halle; though, as a choir trainer, no doubt pretty sharp-eared herself!

In which respect, what a privilege to have access to the ears and brain of someone who has been there & done it, and have one’s listening abilities stretched… (not her fault we couldn’t quite keep up at first or second hearing! )

Add to that an unaffected enthusiasm and ideal broadcasting voice and manner, and you have the sort of programme that one hopes for on R3 (but increasingly rarely finds )

[silvestrione]

A used copy of the Eloquence reissue of the de Waart/SFSO version (which also includes the Haitink RCO Bizet Symphony and Jeux d'Enfants) arrived earlier. It is just as good as it seemed on BaL. Very well balanced recording. Anyway, that's my annual listening of S-S 3 done for the year.

One more than I will manage...

[smittims]

Thanks, Nick. I didn't know S.James' Hall had a barrel ceiling . Stockport Town Hall is similar (though possibly smaller). I often heard the then BBC Northern S.O. play there in the '70s and it sounded OK, about the same acoustics as the Free Trade Hall.

[Barbirollians]

Have finished listening to the BAL now - I thought her reasons for dismissing the Munch at the end were very tenuous. I didn't like the winner struck me as a grand but dull ending to the symphony with a pompous organ too and the YNS was exciting but wearing.

[Cockney Sparrow]

A used copy of the Eloquence reissue of the de Waart/SFSO version (which also includes the Haitink RCO Bizet Symphony and Jeux d'Enfants) arrived earlier. It is just as good as it seemed on BaL. Very well balanced recording. Anyway, that's my annual listening of S-S 3 done for the year.

Not having followed this thread, and yet to listen to the progremme, just to confirm for the benefit of others like me, it was the Jean Guillou (organ) San Francisco Symphony Edo de Waart (conductor) on Eloquence (with the excellent Haitink Bizet Symphony) recording which was selected in the BAL (per BBC the web page)

Happily, I bought the CD for the Bizet. Latterly I've been happy with the DG Barneboim/ChicagoSO/Chartre Cathedral/Litaize recording (and before that the Fremaux).