Customer Reviews

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3; Poulenc: Organ Concerto; Barber: Toccata Festiva

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want an organ and orchestra, sound-spectacular, look no further than here. If, like me, you listen to your newest Saint-Saen "Organ" symphony by jumping to the start of the fourth movement; well, let me tell you, the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ just about knocked me on my can! It has a huge sound, but - as David Hurwitz mentioned in his less than thoroughly enthused review - there's no hint of steeliness in the tone of this monster; which is my main complaint about the large organs that have been installed at S.F.'s Davies Hall, and Dallas' Meyerson Hall. This one simply tops them. Let's start at the beginning.

I love the Barber "Toccata Festiva". If a recording of it existed with Ormandy, I've never heard it, and don't recall ever having seen it. No matter - it couldn't possibly be better than this one. Think of one of Barber's "Essay For Orchestra" pieces (there are three of them), crossed with the "Wild Hunt" scene from Schoenberg's "Gurrelieder"; then add a giant organ than moves in and out of the foreground - that might give you some idea what this piece sounds like. All that's missing is Schoenberg's rattling of the chains. At 16 minutes, it's a perfect organ inaugeration type work. But what I will admit to you, is that have a very poor basis of comparison on the Poulenc organ concerto. It's not a work that I've warmed to over the years (love the harpsichord concerto: Concert Champetre).

That being the case, I can imagine that the Eschenbach/Latry partnership is a bit less nimble on its feet than some of its highly distinguished predecessors, such as Munch/Boston. Just don't rely on me to do the comparison because I just don't care enough to bother at this point. But neither did I find the performance to be so much of a deterrent, that I was just dieing to get to the Saint-Saens. In fact, I was rather enjoying the bit thicker than usual textures - not something one would want to readily boast about liking in this day and age of "composer's intentions", and all that good stuff. And what of the Saint-Saens?

Well, Dave Hurwitz IS correct in pointing out Eschenbach's idiosyncratic conducting in the S-S. Yes, the poco adagio is about a minute and a half slower than usual, but it didn't bother me in the least bit. By way of comparison, why is it OK for Eschenbach to expand the slow movement of Mahler's 6th symphony out to 18 minutes - marked andante moderato, by the way - but it's such a problem for the poco adagio to be a bit less "poco"; more adagio? Some of the measures actually have a fair amount of arpeggio type noodling going on; so that they stay busy sounding at Eschenbach's slower tempo. I will, on the other hand, point out that his scherzo is so fast, that the sixteenth note articulations get a bit blurred. However, it's nice to hear those ridiculous sounding afterbeat measures - located just a few bars after the movement's initial statement - go by a bit quicker than usual. It might all be a tad frantic sounding, but it IS exciting. Then comes the organ roar from hell - heaven, really. Eschenbach chooses a rather stately tempo that perfectly matches the thick, powerful, sonorous textures that EVERYONE conures up here. I like how the two pianos are balanced: not too close, but not TOO distant either. The combined organ and brass make a sound that has to be heard to be believed. But this also has some of the best cymbal playing I've heard on a CD in a long, long time. Unison cymbal/bass drum strokes make their proper, "knock you out of your chair" effect (imagine what Mahler 2 is going to sound like in Philly!). The ending is spectacular beyond belief.

So, there you have it. If you want your Saint-Saens "organ" symphony to sound more like French Beethoven accompanied by an organ, you may want to just stick with what you already have. But, if you're more like me - an unabshed lover of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture (with chorus, canons, bells - everything) - and feel that the full potential of the Saint-Saens has never been fully tapped into on recordings, then you may very well enjoy owning this one as well. I enjoy it for the Barber; the Saint-Saens; the Fred J. Cooper Memorial Organ, and the outrageous playing and sonorities of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I'm happy to say that I don't see this disc as being in any way, a regression in the ongoing Philadelphia/Eschenbach/Ondine series. Far from it.

I attended the first of the three Verizon Hall organ dedicatory concerts in May 2006 from which this program was taken. Ondine's 5.0 recording very closely matches my aural memory of the evening. The orchestra sound is well focused if a little distant, as if it had trouble getting off the stage out into the house. On the other hand, the organ blossoms in the space, engaging the entire hall. The Dobson organ--in real life and on disc--has seemingly unlimited power yet, paradoxically, an elegant and restrained tonal quality that never tires the ear. The Dobson has a more subtle palette than, say, the Meyerson Fisk in Dallas, which is perhaps why even full organ has absolutely no stridency. Recorded balances between organ and orchestra are realistic. If you are interested in this disc as a sound demonstration disc, an example of the Dobson, or a souvenir of a festive occasion, ignore the header and consider this a five-star recommendation. The performances, unfortunately, are another matter.

The best news first...Latry and company turn in an excellent Barber "Toccata Festiva". This is a muscular performance that doesn't shy away from the work's darker side. Unavailable for many years on CD, there are now quite a number of very good recordings of the Toccata. This one is first-rate. Perhaps only Ormandy/Biggs (on the 1960s vintage Aeolian-Skinner for which Barber wrote the work) have been as successful as Eschenbach/Latry at getting to the substance beneath the Toccata's celebratory flourishes.

Unfortunately, the Poulenc is simply not a contender. There is a slackness to the performance, enhanced by some rather fussy phrasing that defuses the work's cumulative effect. Worse, there is no sense of humor in evidence. The Watteau-esque pastoral sections fall flat, and the flip gallop that should make the listener want to get up and do the can-can only sounds frantic. Shaw/Murray (Telarc) are the most successful at pulling together the work's bipolar religious seriousness and campy dance hall qualities into a tragic masterpiece. The aging Angel recording with Duruflé, who played the work's premiere, is still a fine musical experience with historical interest. And, for those who require bleeding-edge SACD surround sound, Hill/Weir (Linn Records) provide a blazingly urgent performance.

The Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 receives a generally OK reading, although the Poco adagio loses some energy as it goes along (even unusually slow tempos can have pace and tension) and Eschenbach takes the scherzo at such a fast clip that even the Philadelphians have a hard time keeping details clean and unblurred. On the whole, it's a good listen. Still, I would recommend other recordings--e.g., Nézet-Séguin (in excellent SACD surround sound), Maazel, Munch, or Paray, depending on my mood--before this one.

The disc is generously filled, with almost 80 minutes of music. It's too bad there was no room for the fourth piece on the concert program, a newly commissioned work by Gerald Levinson. Maybe Ondine will have a place for it on a later SACD.

Organ-and-orchestra aficionados (and maybe Barber fans) will definitely want this disc. Other listeners might want to consider alternatives.

After I heard this CD, I thought, why is Eschenbach being forced out of Philadelphia? This is ample proof that there will be a major loss. This concert must have been absolutely spectacular in the hall. My favorite is the Barber Toccata Festiva. This piece is very lucky on CD. It was commissioned by one of Barber's most infulential patrons, Mary Louise Curts Bok for the new organ dedication. So this work is a natural for this concert which was for the dedication of the new organ at Verizon Hall. Previous recordings have been stellar: Biggs/Ormandy (on a still-sounding wonderfully Sony CD), Schraeder/Kalmar (on an unmissable Cedille CD dedicating Orchestra Hall Chicago's new organ),. The Trotter/Alsop recording was promising considering her other stellar Barber recordings, but that one just didn't get off the ground. The Schmidt/Wildner recording on Audite is also quite fine, but gear shifts hinder it's effectiveness for me (this also includes the Saint Saens 3rd in a rather slow-ish recording.) Here, everything is right-and the balance between organ and orchestra is stellar! The end of the work is fantastic with the joyous applause at the end. The Poulenc is a little slow perhaps, slower than my comparison recording of Marie-Claire Alain/Conlon on Erato. The Saint-Saens also suffers from a little budging of tempo here and there but does not distort the flow of the work although Eschenbach allows for a huge slowdown right before the end of the piece-it says "Pesante" there, not "Molto Allargando". Despite my caveats, this cd is mighty impressive and should be testimony to Eschenbach, the Philly Orchestra, Ondine for their superlative sonics, and the Organist Latry and the wonderful instrument!!

This is the best one-disc survey of music for organ and large orchestra I've found. Barber's Toccata uses the full resources of the modern orchestra in a one-movement concerto (in all but name). It's nice to have a new recording of this, a performance in the composer's home-town, no less. Poulenc's orchestra is limited to strings and timpani, and here it's a revelation to discover details in the accompaniment that I've missed in other recordings. By contrast, the Saint-Saens Third Symphony uses the organ in a limited role, but its relatively brief contributions are ingeniously effective. Olivier Latry needs no praise from me for his first-rate organ playing, and conductor Christoph Eschenbach draws beautifully controlled sounds from the Philadelphia Orchestra. He successfully brings out various instrumental colors in the Barber, and, refreshingly, he makes the "Poco adagio" segment of the Saint-Saens the emotional core of the piece without letting it get sappy. The disc's sound engineers have made it possible for the musicians to achieve full range of dynamics; for some people, the near-inaudibility of certain moments is a flaw but, again, I welcome the variety (not every CD is intended to be heard in a moving automobile). What an embarrassment of riches for Philly -- first the Wanamaker Organ, now this classy Dobson at the striking Kimmel Center!

This is a very impressive recording, particularly the Saint-Saens. It has a huge dynamic range which is best appreciated in the SACD format. I have many recordings of this work, including two versions on 78rpm albums, but this is the first in my experience where you can sense the full power of the 32 foot stop on the first note of the return of the main theme near the end of the poco adagio movement, (the first time this stop is used in the symphony).

To a large extent, I endorse the reactions of Mahler Nutcase on this page. Indeed, the slow movement of the "Organ Symphony" is a bit broader than Saint-Saens' marking of Poco adagio. Contrarily, the Scherzo is pretty much a presto rather than Saint-Saens' Allegro moderato. So? The only downside I see is that the Trio, marked Presto, contrasts not a wit with the Scherzo proper. The upside is that the Scherzo has breathtaking elan. Not every orchestra could keep up with Eschenbach here, but we're talking a Philadelphia Orchestra that, to my ears, is just about the best band in America. It was not always so and may not be again, but right now the Philly is a superb instrument that can give a conductor anything he/she wants. About that Poco adagio: Eschenbach's approach underscores in a loving way the religiosity that pervades many of Saint-Saens's scores, whether liturgical or not (cf. the last movement of Violin Concerto No. 3). As far as Gallic elegance is concerned--sure, a conductor can tart up this symphony, but that often occurs when the last movement (for all the noise, the least distinguished) is languished over. And, after all, Saint-Saens' chief influences were always Germanic: Gounod didn't call him the French Beethoven for nothing. Eschenbach and his band are appropriately fleet and agile here. At the same time, they produce a mammoth, quasi-Wagnerian sound, but to some extent that's a function of the recording, about which a word or two.

Despite almost universal praise for the performances, reviewers have been divided over the recorded sound on earlier entries in the Ondine/Philadelphia Orchestra series. Whatever the unresolved issues were, the present recording is admirable: Stereo spread and imaging are first-rate, timbre is accurate, and hall sound is estimably captured. Oh, and the sound is big--but then it's a big, big orchestra. Going by the results produced here, the Ondine engineers have got the hang of recording in Verizon Hall.

So despite some eccentric tempo choices, the Saint-Saens is one of the most thrilling ever committed to disc. What about the other works? Well, Eschenbach helps me to "get" the Barber "Toccata." This work makes little impression in the version by Marin Alsop and the Royal Scottish N.O. on Naxos. Olivier Latry and the Philadelphia Orchestra make a true ceremony of the work, presenting it as a fourth Essay for Orchestra, almost the equal of Barber's magnificent Essays One and Two. Very, very exciting.

Odd composition out, then, is the "Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani" of Poulenc. Here, the special energy generated by live performance is not really a plus: the slow sections are beautifully done, thanks in large part to the sheen of those Philly strings, but some of the faster passages seem a bit smudged, the phrasing askew. It's still a good performance but certainly not the reason to get this disc--that would be the Saint-Saens and the Barber. These aren't definitive performances, perhaps. But on the other hand, I wouldn't want to do without them in my collection.

I attended many of the events of the Premiere Organ Festival, including one of the concerts from which this recording originated. I join many of the other reviewers who wish the Gerald Levinson commission was here instead of the Poulenc concerto. I had always found the Poulenc work curiously lifeless and mechanical in the past. However, a later performance by the Pittsburgh Symphony with Jeffrey Brilhart was a revelation.

Both the Barber and the Saint-Saens show the new organ to be a masterful partner with the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a subscriber, I'm looking forward to many grand events in the forseeable future!

The Organ Symphony in particular was well-balanced in peformance and recording. I have at least one recording of this work where the pianos are missing. Here they are right where they supposed to be.

As many of you may know, the Cooper Memorial Organ is provided with two mutually exclusive consoles and playing actions. One is a moveable electronic action console and the other a mechanical tracker action key desk. Both are used here. The Barber, the Poulenc and the missing Levinson were played on the floor on a beautiful curvilinear console which emphasizes horizontal lines and appears to be as large as an aircraft carrier. The Saint-Saens was played from the mechnical key desk above [there is a television monitor instead of the traditional mirror}. One can see both in the candid photo of the concert on page 20 of the CD's booklet.

Oddly enough, the booklet DOES NOT have a listing of the organ's specifications. I guess you will have to wait for a recital disc which I hope is forth-coming!

This disc features at terrific account of the Barber--by far the best performance and recorded sound I've yet heard. Five stars all around! Eschenbach does a superb job of making this under-rated work make sense to me. Marin Alsop does a fine job on her Naxos Barber disc, but you must hear this Phialdelphia performance if you want to dig deeper.

The Poulenc, unfortunately, is less than noteworthy. I am the last person to know the finer points of Poulenc, but it just seems this performance cannot make up its mind where it wants to go. There are some shifts in tempo that fail to sound convincing, for instance. At this point in listening to the disc, I also came to feel the recorded balance was not as good as in the Barber.

I feel better qualified to say something about the Saint Seans, since I own over a dozen recorded performances of this work on CD--from the classic Munch/BSO forward in time. I feel that Eschenbach would certainly have benefited from a bit more of the energy that Munch brought to that reading in spades, but, of course, there can be little doubt that Eschenbach enjoys far superior sonics.

They are not the best sonics I believe this work has received on CD, however. My impression, at least from this recording, is that the Verizon Hall has less liveliness than other venues. Perhaps this is a trade-off that comes with making a live recording in a packed hall--more bodies mean less liveliness in the hall than otherwise. I am not sure. All I know is that I was dissapointed to hear the orchestra sound backwardly placed and have little "air" around it, and to hear the organ--while certainly massive and arresting in sound--seem less than convincingly placed in relation to the orchestra. As for the performance, I feel there are also better combinations of grandeur and warmth to be found on CD, for example the Levine, Maazel, Dutoit and Barenboim accounts. All of these readings feature different couplings, so you have some additional factors to consider in a purchase.

My personal favorite--among my dozen or so--remains one I bought as an afterthought in a Glasgow, Scotland record shop last summer: an EMI CD by Andrew Litton and the Royal Liverpool Orchestra recorded in Liverpool Cathderal back in 1987. From the first note to the last, it holds all the elements of this French masterpiece in balance, and the recorded soundstage is entirely believable--in fact, it is wonderfully open and airy (as one would expect, given the venue). And what an organ! It is a joy to hear and is also recorded in real time with the orchestra. Of course, there is more reverberation than some might think ideal in this recoding, but I am willing to look past it as the performace is so compelling. Sadly, this disc is now out-of-print. My fond hope is that it will make a return soon. Until then, I'd recommend all lovers of this work to seek it out: You will be richly rewarded if you can find it!

In summary, a first-rate Barber that is real treasure and almost reason enough to purchase this disc. You will find better versions of the other coupling elsewhere. Very fine--if not exactly ideal--sound all around.

I've heard some of the Tchaikovsky symphonies from Eschenbach and the Philly orchestra and have not been impressed. I've taken them back to the store. Came across a used copy of this disk for 10 bucks and thought, ah, I like the Saent-Saens and the Poulenc and maybe the sound will at least be good in SACD. Performances are very good in great sound. Barber's Toccata Festiva was new to me and it's a show stopper, wow. My find for the month. A very happy keeper.

Quite a debut! Three great works for organ and orchestra on one SACD. My landmark for the Saint-Saens is a live perfomance at Symphony Hall in Boston with E. Power Biggs and Charles Munch when the organ was in its prime. This would be "The" performance for me. Biggs released the same organ with the Poulenc and the Barber on an Allen. When the pedal point comes in on the Biggs-Burgin, it still sets the floor vibrating. Biggs and Munch were not able to 'release' because of contracts [Biggs to Columbia and Munch to RCA] but hopefully that can be found in the BSO Transcription Trust and released now. In the meantime, this recording is very, verrrrry satisfying. The Dobson Organ is a treasure to Philadelphia. My only reservation is: Does Eschenbach really, REALLY grasp the Philadelphia strings in these three pieces!