http://archive.org/details/OrganAndOrchestra
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English Commentary – le commentaire français suit
Our look at the organ and the music of Lent continues today with a montage of pieces for organ and orchestra. Though they are secular in nature, many of these pieces borrow from the organ tradition of the chorale (exploited first by J.S. Bach and later by composers like Franck and Vierne). So, although they are not sacred by nature, like Messiaen's music last week we could consider some of them to be borderline spiritual, or more spiritual than secular.
Our look at the organ and the music of Lent continues today with a montage of pieces for organ and orchestra. Though they are secular in nature, many of these pieces borrow from the organ tradition of the chorale (exploited first by J.S. Bach and later by composers like Franck and Vierne). So, although they are not sacred by nature, like Messiaen's music last week we could consider some of them to be borderline spiritual, or more spiritual than secular.
Richard Strauss had already written his main orchestral works by 1913 when he was asked to write a piece for the opening of the Wiener Konzerthaus. This circumstance suggests a parallel with Beethoven's Die Weihe des Hauses; Strauss wrote a solemn work, based on hymn-like tunes, celebratory fanfares and majestic organ chords, in all their diatonic grandeur. This work is a contemporary of the Alpensinfonie, with which it has more than a passing resemblance.
Georg Frideric Handel's inspiration for the organ concerto as a supplement to performances of his massive oratorios was a combination of both necessity and invention—Handel was simply using his legendary skill at the keyboard to keep his paying audience entertained while the singers took their much-needed intermissions. And so history's first real concertos for organ and orchestra appeared not to satisfy any inevitable artistic purpose but rather as a simple commercial aid; that the works are still so satisfying almost 300 years later is a credit to the composer's unfailing creativity. It is interesting to compare this very early form of the organ concerto to the modern work by Poulenc which was featured in a recent OTF post
Antonio Vivaldi wrote a good number of double concertos, mostly for pairs of the same instrument (violins, mandolins, trumpets are good examples). There are, however, pairings of solo instruments – violin and flutte, violin and oboe and this one here, violin and organ.
Camille Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony is probably the most played of his symphonies, and certainly the most famous work in its genre. The London Philharmonic Society commissioned the Symphony No. 3 from Saint-Saëns, who conducted its first performance in London on May 19, 1886. Although he lived until 1921, Saint-Saëns would not compose another symphony. He later explained: "With it I have given all I could give. What I did I could not achieve again." He had intended to dedicate the piece to Liszt, but the score was published after Liszt's death with the inscription, "Á la Memoire de Franz Liszt."
There are several memorable recordings of this sympohony, and I intend to feature my very favourite on a Tuesday Blog in a few weeks. The performance I chose, from the critically-acclaimed string of recordings the Montreal Symphony did for the LONDON/DECCA label in the 1980’s, is certainly an engineering feat, worth mentioning here.
Georg Frideric Handel's inspiration for the organ concerto as a supplement to performances of his massive oratorios was a combination of both necessity and invention—Handel was simply using his legendary skill at the keyboard to keep his paying audience entertained while the singers took their much-needed intermissions. And so history's first real concertos for organ and orchestra appeared not to satisfy any inevitable artistic purpose but rather as a simple commercial aid; that the works are still so satisfying almost 300 years later is a credit to the composer's unfailing creativity. It is interesting to compare this very early form of the organ concerto to the modern work by Poulenc which was featured in a recent OTF post
Antonio Vivaldi wrote a good number of double concertos, mostly for pairs of the same instrument (violins, mandolins, trumpets are good examples). There are, however, pairings of solo instruments – violin and flutte, violin and oboe and this one here, violin and organ.
Camille Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony is probably the most played of his symphonies, and certainly the most famous work in its genre. The London Philharmonic Society commissioned the Symphony No. 3 from Saint-Saëns, who conducted its first performance in London on May 19, 1886. Although he lived until 1921, Saint-Saëns would not compose another symphony. He later explained: "With it I have given all I could give. What I did I could not achieve again." He had intended to dedicate the piece to Liszt, but the score was published after Liszt's death with the inscription, "Á la Memoire de Franz Liszt."
There are several memorable recordings of this sympohony, and I intend to feature my very favourite on a Tuesday Blog in a few weeks. The performance I chose, from the critically-acclaimed string of recordings the Montreal Symphony did for the LONDON/DECCA label in the 1980’s, is certainly an engineering feat, worth mentioning here.
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| Oratoire StT-Joseph |
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Notre prochain regard sur la musique du Carême et la musique pour orgue nous amène à monter une série d'oeuvres pour orgue et orchestre. Ces oeuvres, qui n'ont pas de caractère sacré, font grand usage du motif du choral pour orgue, ce qui leur confère une atmosphère spirituelle.
Richard Strauss avait composé ses grandes oeuvres pour orchestre avant 1913, moment où il reçut la commande de livrer une pièce de circonstance pour l'inauguration de la Wiener Konzerthaus. Unetelle commande nous rappelle Beethoven et l'ouverture Die Weihe des Hauses; et Strauss écrit un prélude solennel, qui use de figures qui suggèrent des hymnes relihgieux, avec des fanfares et des grands accords d'orgue. Par moment, le prélude solennel rappelle l'Alpensinfonie.
Richard Strauss avait composé ses grandes oeuvres pour orchestre avant 1913, moment où il reçut la commande de livrer une pièce de circonstance pour l'inauguration de la Wiener Konzerthaus. Unetelle commande nous rappelle Beethoven et l'ouverture Die Weihe des Hauses; et Strauss écrit un prélude solennel, qui use de figures qui suggèrent des hymnes relihgieux, avec des fanfares et des grands accords d'orgue. Par moment, le prélude solennel rappelle l'Alpensinfonie.
Georg Frideric Handel est sacré l'inventeur du concerto pour orgue. S'agît-il ici d'une invention pure ou, plutôt, de rencontrer un besoin pratico-pratique. En effet, lors de la mise en oeuvre de ses grands oratorios, l'usage d'un concerto pour "divertir" la foule alors que les chanteurs prennet une pause ou changent de costume semble une bonne façon de joindre l'utile à l'agréable. Quoiqu'il en soit, ces petits divertissements sont des compositions qui, encore aujourd'hui, prennt une grande place dans le répertoire pour orgue et orchestre. Intéressant de comparer Handel à Poulenc, discuté sur QQJP le mois dernier.
Antonio Vivaldi composa un grand nombre de double-concerti, habituellement pour des paires d'instruments semblables (deux violons, deux mandolines, ou deux trompettes, par exemple). On retrouve également des combinaisons d'instruments-solistes: violon et flûte, violon et hautbois et, ici violon et orgue.
La symphonie "avec orgue" de Camille Saint-Saëns est sans doute la symphonie la plus populaire du compositeur, sinon la symphonie du genre la plus populaire. Composée pour la London Philharmonic Society cette symphonie fut dirigée par le compositeiur en grande première à Londres le 19 mai 1988, et fut la dernière symphonie issue de la plume du compositeur qui écrira "rien de plus à dire".
Il existe un bon nombre d'enregistrements de cette oeuvre, et certaines sont plus notoires que d'autres. Une version que je réserve pour un Mardi en Musique est celle signée Paray et Dupré. Aujourd'hui, je me retourne vers les enregistrements Dutoit/OSM des années 1980, et je me dois de souligner le travail des ingénieurs sur cet enregistrement.
En effet, pendantt ces années, l'OSM endisquait à partir de l'église historique de Saint-Eustache (en banlieue Nord-Ouest de Montréal), mais la partie pour orgue fut enregistrée à même la caverneuse basilique de l'Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal, utilisant le puissanmt orgue Beckerath qui s'y trouve.
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| Eglise de St-Eustache |
Ainsi, non seulement y avait-il le défi de capturer l'orgue sous une acoustique difficile, mai il a fallu y greffer l'orchestre, et donner non seulement l'illusion que les deux participants étaient sur le même plancher, mais on a même réussi à capturer la majesté et la puissance du Roi des instruments. Magnifique!
Bonne écoute!
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