Symphonic Steampunk: Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony
Tom Service dissects Camille Saint-Saëns's Third Symphony, his 'Organ Symphony', famously featured in the Disney film Babe. With organist Anna Lapwood.
"I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again." So said child prodigy, virtuoso pianist, intellectual, conductor and composer Camille Saint-Saëns about his wildly successful 1873 ‘Organ Symphony’. Famously featured in the 1995 porcine Disney film Babe, it’s still immensely popular today. But where did it come from? What was Saint-Saëns trying to achieve and how influenced was he by his Parisian contemporaries? With organist Anna Lapwood on the thrill of playing ‘that chord’ in the Royal Albert Hall at the 鶹Լ Proms.
Producer: Ruth Thomson
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Music Played
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Nigel Westlake
SAINT-SAENS/NIGEL WESTLAKE: Babe - 'This is a Tale...'
- Varese Sarabande.
- VSD 5661.
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JONATHAN HODGE
If I Had Words
Performer: Yvonne Keeley. Performer: Scott Fitzgerald.- UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS.
- UP36333.
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Benedictine Nuns of Notre Dame
TRADITIONAL: Dies Irae
- Decca.
- 2748264.
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Camille Saint‐Saëns
Symphony no. 3 in C minor Op.78 (Organ symphony)
Performer: Daniel Roth. Performer: Les Siècles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.- HARMONIA MUNDI.
- HMM 905348.
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Camille Saint‐Saëns
Symphony in A major [c.1850]
Performer: American Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leon Botstein.- ASO.
- 084854262364.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony no. 41 in C major K.551 (Jupiter)
Performer: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.- DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
- 4838228.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony no. 7 in A major Op.92
Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.- DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
- 4838228.
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Camille Saint‐Saëns
Symphony in F major (Urbs Roma)
Performer: Malmö SymfoniOrkester. Conductor: Marc Soustrot.- Naxos.
- 8.573140.
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Hector Berlioz
Symphonie fantastique Op.14
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.- LSO LIVE.
- LSO-0007 CD.
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Hector Berlioz
Symphonie funebre et triomphale Op.15 for military band (strings & chorus ad lib.)
Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.- PHILIPS.
- 475-7765.
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Hector Berlioz
Harold en Italie - symphony Op.16 for viola and orchestra
Performer: Antoine Tamestit. Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.- LSO LIVE.
- LSO 0760.
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Jeanne Louise Dumont Farrenc
Symphony no. 3 in G minor Op.36
Performer: European Soloists, Luxembourg. Conductor: Christoph Konig.- NAXOS.
- 8.574094.
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Charles‐Marie Widor
Symphony no. 5 in F minor Op.42 No.1 for organ
Performer: David Humphreys.- LAMMAS.
- LAMM178D.
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Camille Saint‐Saëns
Le Carnaval des animaux
Performer: Toulouse Capitole Orchestra. Conductor: Michel Plasson.- Warner Classics.
- 9029641543.
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Hector Berlioz
Symphonie fantastique Op.14
Performer: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.- DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
- 474 165-2.
Broadcasts
- Sun 5 Feb 2023 17:00鶹Լ Radio 3
- Fri 10 Feb 2023 16:30鶹Լ Radio 3
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