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program notes
he astonished a sophisticated Parisian audience at his official debut by playing brilliantly a taxing piano program and then, as an encore, offering any of Beethoven’ s 32 piano sonatas from memory!(“ Whatever music will he be playing when he’ s 20?” onlookers asked his doting mother.“ He will be playing his own,” she replied.) He soon became as remarkable an organist as he was a pianist, and for 19 years officiated at the console of Paris’ most fashionable church, La Madeleine.
First-time listeners to this symphony nicknamed“ Organ”( though not by the composer) tend to wait impatiently for the mighty instrument to make its appearance. But great organist that he was, Saint-Saëns chose to conduct rather than to play at the symphony’ s premiere in London on May 19, 1886. In this work, he was thinking of the organ not as a soloist but as a new orchestral color. In fact, the organ’ s first entrance— about ten minutes into the piece at the beginning of the Adagio section— is so subtle it can easily be missed. Its pianissimo chords give a burnished glow to the strings’ gentle melody.
For this is a true symphony, disguising a traditional four-movement plan within an interlinking two-part division. Dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt, Saint-Saëns’ close friend who had recently died, the work is built from Liszt’ s practice of“ thematic transformation,” in which a core theme recurs throughout a work, undergoing metamorphosis from one appearance to the next. We hear Saint-Saëns’ core theme or motto— a rushing idea for strings( the composer in his note called it“ somber and agitated”)— immediately following a brief slow introduction. Many, but by no means all, of the symphony’ s themes are created from this motto. One that is completely independent is the rocking, slightly sentimental melody, introduced a little later by violins, that brings romantic tranquility to this otherwise nervous music.
Dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt, Saint-Saëns’ close friend who had recently died, the work is built from Liszt’ s practice of“ thematic transformation.”
Opened softly by organ and strings, the slow movement in D-flat Major flows after a slight pause from the first section. Here is some of Saint-Saëns’ loveliest writing: an“ extremely peaceful, contemplative theme”( all phrases in quotes are the composer’ s own) scored with great refinement. Pizzicato basses and cellos mysteriously offer the motto in a new guise for a harmonically unsettled middle section. The movement ends in a“ mystical coda” of falling phrases over chords slowly alternating between D-flat Major and E Minor.
The symphony’ s second part combines a scherzo movement and the finale. The scherzo opens in C Minor with a rhythmically energetic theme for low strings; the high woodwinds answer this with a choppy new transformation of the motto. This music is succeeded by a“ fantastic” trio section in a much faster tempo and brighter C Major— full of“ tricky gaiety” in its rhythmic cross-play, its scintillating high-register wind parts and its unusual piano part. Both the scherzo and trio music return, but during the repeat of the trio music, we hear a“ grave and austere” slow theme emerging in the low brass.“ There is a struggle for mastery, which ends in the defeat of the restless diabolical element,” comments the composer.
Now all is ready for the grand finale. Suddenly, the organ commands our attention with a fortissimo C-Major chord summoning the rest of the orchestra to action. In an imaginative stroke of orchestration, Saint-Saëns presents a captivating melody( derived from the motto) in soft strings accompanied by sparkling piano, played by four hands.( Fans of the 1995 film Babe will recognize this as the porcine hero’ s theme music.) Organ and full orchestra repeat the melody triumphantly. Intricate fugal developments of this theme follow. Finally, Saint-Saëns delivers the most splendid of conclusions: fast, thrilling and with organ swelling the impact.
Dave Hoffmann
The BSO
Instrumentation: Three flutes including piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, organ, piano( 4-hands), strings.
Notes by Janet E. Bedell, Copyright © 2017
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