Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony

It was an evening featuring the music of Camille Saint-Saens last night at Abravanel Hall and it was absolutely lovely.  Several years ago one of my colleagues, knowing how much I enjoy classical music, recommended a concert featuring Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony and I enjoyed it immensely.  Now I try to see it whenever I can and when I learned that the Utah Symphony would be performing it this season I immediately got a ticket.  While I picked this concert for the Organ Symphony, I really loved the other Saint-Saens pieces that were performed as well.  The orchestra began with the "Bacchanale" from the opera Samson and Delilah.  I had never heard this before and it is incredibly exotic and stirring.  The finale is absolutely spectacular featuring a crescendo of timpani!  This was followed by Trois Tableaux symphoniques d'apres La Foi, which is incidental music for a play of the same name by Eugene Brieux, and I have to say that this is now one of my favorite pieces because it is beautiful.  I loved the themes played by the harp which are also incredibly exotic.  Harpist Louise Vickerman gave me goosebumps!  I also really loved the themes played by the woodwinds and the trombone solo.  After the intermission the orchestra was joined by Paul Jacobs, the chair of the organ department at The Julliard School, for Symphony No. 3, better known as the Organ Symphony.  It was magnificent!  I especially loved the second movement because there is a theme played by both the organ and the strings in unison with an accompaniment of timpani and cymbals.  So dramatic!  I enjoyed this entire concert so much and I recommend getting a ticket to tonight's performance of the same program (go here for tickets).

Note:  This concert was recorded for commercial release as part of the Utah Symphony's project to become the first American symphony to record all five of Saint-Saens' symphonies.  I will definitely be purchasing these CDs because Saint-Saens is becoming one of my favorite composers.