RSNO Friday Night Club: Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony

Friday Night Club Fri 3 Apr 2020: 7.30pm SAINT-SAËNS Symphony No3 Organ Neeme Järvi Conductor Royal Scottish National Orchestra Recorded on Sat 2 Nov 2019, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Supported by Jennie S. Gordon Memorial Foundation

This performance was recorded for the RSNO Archive. Supported by the Iain and Pamela Sinclair Legacy.

RSNO Friday Night Club: Symphony No3 Organ

Symphony No3 in C Minor Organ Op78 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)

FIRST PERFORMED 19 May 1886, London, conducted by the composer DURATION 36 minutes Adagio-Allegro moderato-Poco adagio Allegro moderato-Presto-Maestoso-Allegro On 19 May 1886, in St James’ Hall in London’s Piccadilly, the 50-year-old Camille Saint-Saëns conducted his Symphony No3 ‘Avec Orgue’ (with organ) to a resounding ovation from London’s music critics. Even the more grudging Parisian audiences, still unconvinced about contemporary French music despite the efforts of Saint-Saëns and the Société Nationale de Musique to promote it, were rapturous when the symphony was given its French premiere the following year.

‘My dear composer of a splendid symphony!’ wrote Saint-Saëns’ friend and protégé Gabriel Fauré, on emerging from the premiere, score in hand. Here, he wrote, is a symphony ‘which will live much longer than we two, even when putting our ages together!’ With its innovative structure and instrumentation, its frothing of musical ideas, the Third Symphony has long been thought of as the apotheosis of SaintSaëns’ career, not least in the composer’s own estimation. ‘I gave everything to it that I was able to give,’ said Saint-Saëns, assessing his last attempt at the symphonic form. ‘What I have accomplished, I will never achieve again.’

If 50 seems somewhat young to write off one’s symphonic aspirations, it should perhaps be remembered that Saint-Saëns’ first

Scotland’s National Orchestra

(unpublished) attempt at the form was made aged just 17, a nebulous effort crowning a childhood spent touring the concert halls of Europe. Described by one 20th-century critic as ‘the most remarkable child prodigy in history’, Saint-Saëns made his public recital debut at the age of 10 with a programme that included a formidable encore of any Beethoven sonata requested – from memory.

It was just two years later, having spent the intervening period studying organ with Alexandre Boély in Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, that Saint-Saëns entered the Paris Conservatoire, whose Director encouraged pianists to take up the organ in order to improve their job prospects. So it proved for Saint-Saëns, who began his working musical life – effectively a tour of the grand organs of Europe – in the populous central parish of the Parisian church of Saint-Merri before moving, some five years later, to the prestigious church of La Madeleine, Franz Liszt having described him as ‘the greatest organist in the world’.

If Saint-Merri’s 16th-century architecture is what is known in Gothic circles as ‘flamboyant’, the popular vision of its sometime organist in later years was the opposite, largely predicated on his increasing conservatism. There was hostility, too, from a new rank of French composers at the Société Nationale led by Vincent D’Indy, which belied the genuine belief and enthusiasm Saint-Saëns had for new music throughout much of his career, and the innovation which contemporaries, including Liszt, saw in his music.

Saint-Saëns’ first organ work was composed at Saint-Merri after the restoration of the dilapidated 17th-century gallery organ, whose

failings had dogged his first four years at the church. Indeed, the idiosyncrasies of church organ stock were one of the hazards of working with such vast and complex instruments.

Some 30 years later, the premiere of SaintSaëns’ Third Symphony encountered similar issues when the composer discovered that the imposing 1858 Gray & Davison organ in St James’ Hall, which he had played during a concert tour in the early 1880s, and for which he had written the Symphony, had been replaced by a newer, inferior model.

The Symphony had been commissioned in 1885 by the philanthropic Philharmonic Society, who had engaged Saint-Saëns to ‘play a concerto at one of the concerts, either his own or not, as he prefers’. With wrangles over money concluded, the composer spent the winter of 1885-6 working on the Symphony.

It is perhaps ironic, given that the Organ Symphony’s triumphant final theme was famously used a century later as the theme for the Disney film Babe (based on Dick King Smith’s book, The Sheep Pig), that the composer had simultaneously found light relief in writing another of his best-known works, The Carnival of the Animals.

Stylistically, Saint-Saëns’ work is on a very personal cusp that looks both to the structures of the French classical past and to the Romanticism of his European contemporaries, prefiguring the impressionists. His own analysis of his work, of its ‘sombre and agitated’ first movement, its ‘vague feelings of agitation’ and ‘fantastic elements’, shows the Romantic at work, although he would later reject the use of ‘feelings’ in music.

RSNO Friday Night Club: Symphony No3 Organ

The very bones of Saint-Saëns’ Symphony, dedicated to Liszt, were innovative, its twomovement structure an orchestral sleight of hand that belied its underlying traditional fourmovement basis, created by eliding and juxtaposing its constituent parts. Throughout, subtle repetition and progression unifies the whole, with its Lisztian notion of thematic transformation climaxing in the chorale-like finale.

Saint-Saëns tinkers with symphonic convention, from unorthodox key changes to the innovative use of the organ and piano, the latter glitteringly scored for both two and four hands. He plays with scale, the ethereal organ transcendent in the shimmering Adagio landscape – then, after the scherzo’s playfulness, the massive, uncompromising, unrepentant heft of the Maestoso and its familiar theme, the jubilant finale, the last sounding of Saint-Saëns’ symphonic career, buoyed by massed ranks of brass, jagged strings and scintillating figuration on the piano. © Sarah Urwin Jones

Listen again to the RSNO Neeme Järvi conducts Saint-Saëns 2 CDs of orchestral works, including the Danse bacchanale from Samson et Dalila and Danse macabre

More information rsno.org.uk/recordings

What was happening in 1886?

5 and 9 Jan Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was published in New York then London 25 Jan German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler was born 29 Mar Wilhelm Steinitz became the first recognised World Chess Champion 4 Apr William Gladstone introduced the First Irish Home Rule Bill, which was defeated on 8 Jun 15 May American poet Emily Dickinson died 26 May Al Jolson, American entertainer, was born 25 Jun Arturo Toscanini made his conducting debut with an Italian company in Rio de Janeiro 3 Jul Karl Benz introduced the Benz Patent Motorwagen, the world’s first production automobile 31 Jul Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer and pianist, died 9 Sep The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works was signed 28 Oct President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, in New York Harbour 30 Nov In Paris, the Folies Bergère staged its first revue

Scotland’s National Orchestra

Neeme Järvi CONDUCTOR Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna Symphony Orchestra, as well as the major orchestras in the USA, and regular engagements with the NHK and Singapore symphony orchestras.

In September 2019 he conducted the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein Vienna, International Bruckner Festival Linz, Dvořákova Praha International Music Festival and Festspielhaus Bregenz.

The head of a musical dynasty, Neeme Järvi is one of today’s most highly respected maestros.

Currently he is Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra. He holds the titles of Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Chief Guest Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. Over his long and highly successful career he has also held positions with orchestras across the world such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Residentie Orkest The Hague.

A prolific recording artist, he has amassed a discography of over 500 recordings, including more than 130 with the RSNO alone.

Recent and future seasons include engagements with the Chicago Symphony

Neeme Järvi has been honoured with many international awards and accolades, such as the Barclay de Tolly’s Friends Club Order of Merit Award (2019), the Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award (2018), the Echo Classical Award (Neeme Järvi with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 2017), and the International Record Prize Toblach in 1993 (Mahler Symphony No3, London Symphony Orchestra) and 2011 (Mahler Symphony No7, Residentie Orkest). In his native country he has an honorary doctorate from the Music and Theatre Academy and the Order of the National Coat of Arms from the President of the Republic of Estonia. He also holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Aberdeen.

Neeme Järvi appeared most recently with the RSNO in Edinburgh and Glasgow in February 2015, in a programme of Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

RSNO Friday Night Club: Symphony No3 Organ

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. The Orchestra’s artistic team is led by Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård, who was appointed RSNO Music Director in October 2018, having previously held the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan succeeds Søndergård as Principal Guest Conductor. They are joined by Assistant Conductor Junping Qian.

The RSNO performs across Scotland, including concerts in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness. The Orchestra appears regularly at the Edinburgh International Festival and the BBC Proms, and has made recent tours to the USA, China and throughout Europe.

The Orchestra is joined for choral performances by the RSNO Chorus, directed by Gregory Batsleer. The RSNO Chorus evolved from a choir formed in 1843 to sing the first full performance of Handel’s Messiah in Scotland. Today, the RSNO Chorus is one of the most distinguished large symphonic choruses in Britain, with a membership of around 160. The Chorus has performed nearly every work in the standard choral repertoire, along with contemporary works by composers including John Adams, Howard Shore and James MacMillan.

Formed in 1978 by Jean Kidd, the acclaimed RSNO Junior Chorus, under its new director Patrick Barrett, also performs regularly alongside the Orchestra. Boasting a membership of over 400 members aged from 7 to 18, it has built up a considerable reputation singing under some of the world’s most distinguished conductors and appearing on radio and television.

The RSNO has a worldwide reputation for the quality of its recordings, receiving two Diapason d’Or awards for Symphonic Music (Denève/ Roussel 2007; Denève/Debussy 2012) and eight GRAMMY Awards nominations. Over 200 releases are available, including the complete symphonies of Sibelius (Gibson), Prokofiev (Järvi), Glazunov (Serebrier), Nielsen and Martinů (Thomson) and Roussel (Denève) and the major orchestral works of Debussy (Denève). Thomas Søndergård’s debut recording with the RSNO, of Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben, was released on Linn Records in 2019.

The RSNO’s pioneering learning and engagement programme, Music for Life, aims to engage the people of Scotland with music across key stages of life: Early Years, Nurseries and Schools, Teenagers and Students, Families, Accessing Lives, Working Lives and Retired and Later Life.

The team is committed to placing the Orchestra at the centre of Scottish communities via community workshops and annual residencies across the length and breadth of the country.

Scotland’s National Orchestra

On Stage FIRST VIOLIN

CELLO

HORN

LEADER

PRINCIPAL

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

Sharon Roffman Lena Zeliszewska ASSOCIATE LEADER

Mátyás Mézes Adela Bratu Barbara Paterson Jane Reid Caroline Parry Ursula Heidecker Allen Elizabeth Bamping Lorna Rough Susannah Lowdon Mireia Ferrer Judith Choi-Castro Liam Lynch

Aleksei Kiseliov

Andrew McLean

Betsy Taylor Arthur Boutillier William Paterson Rachael Lee Sarah Digger Anne Brincourt Miranda Phythian-Adams

Stephanie Jones Martin Murphy David McClenaghan Christine McGinley

DOUBLE BASS

Marcus Pope Jason Lewis

Margarida Castro ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL

TRUMPET

Christopher Hart PRINCIPAL

CORNET

SECOND VIOLIN

Michael Rae Paul Sutherland John Clark Sally Davis Chris Sergeant

PRINCIPAL

FLUTE

PRINCIPAL

Xander van Vliet Marion Wilson Harriet Wilson Nigel Mason Michael Rigg Wanda Wojtasinska Anne Bünemann Robin Wilson Kirstin Drew Katie Jackson Carole Howat Colin McKee VIOLA

Tom Dunn PRINCIPAL

David Greenlees Asher Zaccardelli Susan Buchan Lisa Rourke David Martin Claire Dunn Katherine Wren Maria Trittinger Francesca Hunt

Katherine Bryan PRINCIPAL

Helen Brew Janet Richardson

Jason Lewis Robert Baxter TROMBONE

Dávur Juul Magnussen Lance Green Alastair Sinclair

PRINCIPAL BASS TROMBONE

PRINCIPAL PICCOLO

TUBA

OBOE

GUEST PRINCIPAL

Adrian Wilson

Mark Reynolds

PRINCIPAL

TIMPANI

Peter Dykes Henry Clay

PRINCIPAL

PRINCIPAL COR ANGLAIS

CLARINET

Josef Pacewicz GUEST PRINCIPAL

Robert Digney Duncan Swindells

PRINCIPAL BASS CLARINET

BASSOON

David Hubbard PRINCIPAL

Luis Eisen Anthea Wood Paolo Dutto

PRINCIPAL CONTRABASSOON

Paul Philbert PERCUSSION

John Poulter PRINCIPAL

Liz Gilliver Jonathan Chapman Oliver Butterworth HARP

Pippa Tunnell PIANO

Richard Casey Edward Cohen ORGAN

Michael Bawtree

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