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Sym 3/Encores A La Francaise [Hybrid SACD]

Michael Murray Audio CD
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 38.29
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1. Symphony No. 3 in C minor ('Organ'), Op. 78: Adagio; allegro moderato poco adagio
2. Symphony No. 3 in C minor ('Organ'), Op. 78: Allegro moderato, presto; maestoso allegro; molto adagio
3. Chaconne for harpsichord in G minor (Pièces de clavecin, No. 121)
4. Pièces (7) for organ, Carillon, Op. 27/4
5. Scherzo for organ in E major
6. Pieces (3), for organ, M. 35-37: Pièce Héroïque
7. Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5
8. Cantata No. 29, 'Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir,' BWV 29 (BC B8): Sinfonia
9. Symphony No. 1 for organ in D minor, Op. 14: Final
10. Musette for organ, Op. 51/2
11. Fanfare for organ

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 ("Organ Symphony") is without question the most famous, and most frequently-performed, work in the symphonic repertoire for this pairing of forces. Over the years, it has received the attention of many conductors. A quick search of available recordings shows that most speciaiists in the French repertoire have committed performances to disc: Charles Dutoit, Charles Munch, Georges Pretre, Andre Cluytens, Paul Paray, Jean Martinon, Sir Thomas Beecham, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Jean Fournet, Michel Plasson, Louis de Froment, Louis Fremaux (some of them with multiple recordings).

But, for all that "French specialization," the all-time record for most recordings of this work is held by a Hungarian, Eugene Ormandy. The record (no pun intended) shows that Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra recorded this work at least four times: twice with E. Power Biggs (the first of which, in the mid-'50s, is how I first came to know the work), once with Virgil Fox, and, finally (almost as a "career summation") with Michael Murray on this splendid Telarc CD.

Recorded at a time (1980) when Ormandy was preparing to relinquish his Philadelphia Orchestra Music Director position to his successor, Riccardo Muti, and when the novelty of digital recording was still unique enough that Telarc, in the vanguard of this technology, succeeded in securing recording rights for several major U.S. orchestras (including three of the "big five" if only for a limited number of releases), this performance is the equal of any, and the sound (from an unusual venue for the Philadelphia Orchestra, the St. Francis de Sales Church) remains "state of the art" nearly a quarter-century later. It is, arguably, one of the very best recordings of the Philadelphia Orchestra ever made, irrespective of repertoire. And the Cavaillé-Coll organ installation at St. Francis de Sales is a "near-twin" to the instruments actually played countless times by Saint-Saëns in Paris (at Notre Dame and at the Madeleine church).

Saint-Saëns was both a child prodigy and a composer who lived, and composed over, a long and fruitful life. But he was "only" fifty when he wrote this final symphony of his; all of his subsequent works were in different genres. He thought it a fitting capstone to his symphonic output, and who are we to argue? Composed in 1888, when Johannes Brahms was the leading symphonist of the day and such young "upstarts" as Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler were beginning to gain attention, Saint-Saëns's compositional aesthetic for the work (save for the fact that it incorporates the organ) is almost "reactionary" by comparison. It is immediately accessible to virtually anyone, such is its appeal. An adjective often used to describe Saint-Saëns's writing in this work is "suave"; I think this characterization is spot-on.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has rarely if ever sounded better than it does here. Famous for its "silky strings" during Ormandy's tenure, the whole orchestra is a model of refinement so vital for realizing the suave writings of Saint-Saëns; all choirs of the orchestra exhibit this refinement at every dynamic level. The organ-orchestra balances are perfect (clearly, Telarc did a remarkable job in establishing these balances in what is often a tricky venue, that of a rather reverberent church). And the dynamic and frequency ranges of the recording are nothing short of astounding; of present-day "demo" quality despite the passage of a quarter century.

My only complaint about this CD - and it is admittedly one that is "pocketbook dependent" - is that it offers rather a small amount of music for its cost. When it was newly-released (as a fairly early Telarc CD transfer from a 1980 digitially-mastered LP), matters were different, and CDs offering significantly more playing time than this one does were the exception. Nowadays, with 75+ minute CDs a routine matter, this recording - good as it is - should either be remastered to include more music (not a problem, given Telarc's large catalog), or offered as a "super budget" reissue (also not a problem, since Telarc has such a product line). This is the ONLY issue that keeps me from giving this recording a 5-star rating. For interpretive and sonic reasons, it clearly deserves such a rating; it remains the best recording of this work after all these years.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Philadelphia Sound in Your Living Room Aug 13 2002
Format:Audio CD
This recording that Eugene Ormandy made with organist Michael Murray in 1980 for Telarc was one of his last, and one of his best. Ormandy takes a more relaxed tempo in this version compared to the previous three (1956, 1962 with E. Power Biggs, 1974 with Virgil Fox), but this recording is just as majestic as the 1956 collaboration with Biggs. Unfortunately, at times, the orchestra is also mic'ed from a distance, particularly in the Poco adagio section of Part I. However, beginning with the introduction of the Maestoso in Part II, Murray's organ and the Philadelphia's French horns and percussion are right in our living room. I don't mean that a digital "representation" is right in my living room, but over my speakers (ADS and Klipsch) was delivered the most realistic sound I've heard from a digital recording yet (I suspect that the "distant" microphone placement was employed so as not to blow Telarc's monitor speaker cones from their housings upon reaching this overpowering point).

Telarc has long been famous for its superb digital recordings, and this showcasing of Michael Murray, Eugene Ormandy and
the Philadelphia Orchestra is one of their best. The finale, Allegro, blasted so powerfully throughout my house, with such
passion and aural intrusiveness, that it gave me goose bumps. Here is one of the few, rare, digital recordings from which you
can hear what Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra truly sound like. For that reason alone, you should buy this.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Saint-Saens and Ormandy Aug 10 2002
Format:Audio CD
Great performance and infinite quality by Telarc, yet, I'm going to be a little in the past, for I'm listening to the LP version of this Telarc recording that was issued on vinyl when the album was released in 1980 and pressed in by our friends at Teldec in Germany-2 years before the era of the CD was in our view. Yet, I'm glad to see the digital master tapes finally made a CD of this great piece of Saint-Saens with the great orchestra and its great conductor. I remember also when Ormandy recorded for Victor the digital recording in 1979 of the Bartok-Concerto for Orchestra, which was first in it's kind-digital recordings. The Philadelphia Orchestra were also involved in the first stereo recordings under the baton of Stokowski in 1932. The Famous Philadelphians comes forth again in flying colours!
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