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Best Organ Symphonies

12K views 42 replies 26 participants last post by  PathfinderCS  
#1 ·
Two symphonies #3

Saint Saens (of course)


but also


Khachaturian (stunning)

Anything else?
 
#4 · (Edited)
My favourite organ symphony is probably Symphony No.1 by Louis Vierne (1870-1937). My first encounter with it was at my church, as part of a concert series that I attended as a child. This was a long time ago. The only complete recording of it in my collection is the one with Michael Murray playing the Cavaillé-Coll Organ at Saint Ouen de Rouen (Telarc CD-80329) I like it very much, particularly because the Telarc recording process captures the strength of the bass. Very often the finale of this symphony is used as a showpiece, to exhibit the facility of the organist and the instrument.
 
#6 ·
My favourite organ symphony is probably Symphony No.1 by Louis Vierne (1870-1937).
AFAIK this is for organ solo (Widor also had a lot of those, and probably a few more, typically French, composers did). I think the OP is asking for symphonies for organ and orchestra.
 
#8 ·
Poul Ruders Symphony No.4 "An Organ Symphony"

Mr Ruders is a Danish composer who is also an organist. It is a newer composition, from the 21st century. I find it to be quite an accessible work, considering that it is new music. I highly recommend it.
 
#9 ·
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/1342/36928

Programme Note

Poul Ruders Symfoni nr. 4 (2008)

An organ Symphony

2008-2009

When introducing a large-scale symphonic work not only as a symphony, but as an organ symphony, it would be impossible not to think of and perhaps compare it with Camille Saint-Saëns's famous Symphony no. 3, popularly known as the organ symphony. Well, that is a risk I am prepared to take - and live with the consequences.

Saint-Saëns, however, listed his work as a symphony avec/with organ. The organ only appears in two out of the four sections of the piece. In my symphony, the instrument plays a far more significant part and is features in all four movements. But it is not a concerto for organ and orchestra, rather a symphony with organo obligato - a symphony with an organ part of a soloistic nature. So, an Organ Symphony it is.

The first movement, Prelude, is exactly that: a foreplay to what is in store for the rest of the symphony. It is slow (very slow!) and predominantly hushed: the organ and the orchestra wake up, side-by-side, getting to know one another.

The second movement, Cortége, is a slowly moving processional and it evokes extreme solemnity and austerity. Later on, the music takes flight and the atmosphere lightens considerably, a far more playful music emerging.

This leads to the third movement, Etude, an exercise in instrumental virtuosity and technical challenge.

The fourth and last movement is called Chaconne, but I could just a well have named it passacaglia (the definition of those two terms seems to blur, even among the learned). Bearing in mind the last movement of Johannes Brahms's Symphony no. 4, which is universally agreed on as being a passacaglia, I chose to avoid the Wrath of the Gods and opted for "chaconne" (also a nicer and less heavy word, I think).

In any case, both tiles indicate a composition progressing on the back of a doggedly repeated bass line, which eventually wedges its way up and into the middle and upper layers of the composition. In classical times, a passacaglia/chaconne was always in three quarter meter. Mine is in four quarter meter, and the tune, the so-called ostinato, opens the movement, not in the bass, as tradition dictates, but in the middle register, played by winds and strings. When the organ enters the picture a bit later, the build-up starts in earnest, reaching its peak at the conclusion, the coda of the movement.

There is, however, a little surprise, an almost inaudible turn of events at the very end.

The work was commissioned by The Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the Lay Family Concert Organ, situated in The Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas, Texas.

- Poul Ruders
 
#35 · (Edited)
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/1342/36928
Programme Note
Poul Ruders Symfoni nr. 4 (2008)
An organ Symphony
2008-2009

When introducing a large-scale symphonic work not only as a symphony, but as an organ symphony, it would be impossible not to think of and perhaps compare it with Camille Saint-Saëns's famous Symphony no. 3, popularly known as the organ symphony. Well, that is a risk I am prepared to take - and live with the consequences. ... Saint-Saëns, however, listed his work as a symphony avec/with organ. The organ only appears in two out of the four sections of the piece. In my symphony, the instrument plays a far more significant part and is features in all four movements. But it is not a concerto for organ and orchestra, rather a symphony with organo obligato - a symphony with an organ part of a soloistic nature. So, an Organ Symphony it is. - Poul Ruders
Not an organist, but after having listened and read about about many works for organ and orchestra, I think that composer and organist Poul Ruders (and 20centrfuge) are correct in the above distinctions that should apply generally. Saint-Saens was a great organist and knew what he was doing when he called Symphony No. 3 a "symphony with organ." If that's what he wanted and it makes sense, that's enough. As well as the organ with its spectacular entrance, the Third is a symphony with piano duet and with unusually prominent harp parts among its sonic resources, all of which the composer handles deftly. Also, it would be clearer if we stuck with distinguishing the symphony for organ and orchestra from the concerto for organ and orchestra. Finally, I think there is a problem with Widor's term for his big solo organ compositions -- organ symphony -- because it is easily confused with symphony for organ and orchestra. I was fooled by it when I first looked into Widor's music.
 
#16 ·
I'm a bit confused now by the genre. Symphony with organ appearing as one of the instruments? Symphony with organ as a major solo instrument (concerto)? "Symphony" with organ as a sole instrument?

In any case, for me the ultimate symphonic work with organ is Saint-Saëns’s symphony.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I'm a bit confused now by the genre. Symphony with organ appearing as one of the instruments? Symphony with organ as a major solo instrument (concerto)? "Symphony" with organ as a sole instrument?

In any case, for me the ultimate symphonic work with organ is Saint-Saëns's symphony.
The OP asked for symphonies for orchestra with organ. So symphonies for organ solo do not qualify. Neither do concertos imo, but there is no consensus on that.

If concertos are to be included, I'd like to mention Hanson, Keuris (which I prefer over the already mentioned Poulenc), Eben and Hakim.
 
#19 ·
As with others here, I list Saint-Saens' third as my prime pick of Symphonies with Organ. A work no one has mentioned (that I notice) ought to at least deserve a passing nod...Mahler's Second Symphony. Its organ contribution is rather limited (in relation to the work as a whole) but it is certainly a great composition.
 
#25 ·
No one has mentioned (I think) the Khachaturian 3rd symphony - for orchestra, organ and 16 trumpets. Astonishingly bombastic and tasteless - yet the big string tune is quite memorable, as is the Phantom of the Opera organ cadenza. Been recorded a few times, but the only one worth hearing is Stokowski with Chicago on RCA. The LP is easier to get than the cd.
 
#27 · (Edited)
"Organ Symphony" seems a rather narrow category, especially if this then precludes Vierne and much of Widor too. Incidentally, Kalevi Aho's Eighth symphony is with organ, so should count. I don't know it, sorry. Glad Ruders got a mention, but we're still a bit limited.

So bring on the concertos!!!!!

Jacck, there are two Hindemith organ concertos, the late (and for me rather bland) one, and the last Kammermusik, which is echt-Hindemith. If you're Czech-based, you ought to be pushing the works of the grotesquely underrated Petr Eben, a very very fine composer indeed. For me he rivals Messiaen as an organ composer.

Poulenc, of course. And all those Handels!
 
#29 · (Edited)
Well, let's see:

Saint-Saens' 3rd Symphony is the obvious recommendation.

Same with Copland's Symphony for Organ and Orchestra; tho admittedly I haven't really found myself all that fond of the piece yet. Not sure if Bernstein's conducting is suiting me yet.

Widor was the one that really got me into the whole Organ/Orchestra obsession; starting with the aptly names Symphony for Organ and Orchestra. Likewise his Sinfonia Sacra and Symphony #3 are both great as well. While his Symphonie Antique doesn't feature an organ through the whole piece, tho moment it does appear is just...amazing. <3

I'll also recommend:

Guilmant: Symphony for Organ and Orchestra #1 and #2
Dupre: Symphony for Organ and Orchestra
Straus: An Alpine Symphony
Vaughn Williams: Sinfonia antarctica
Jongen: Symphonie concertante
Fetis: Symphonic Fantasy for Organ and Orchestra
Dubois: Fantaisie triomphale
Tournemire: Symphony #6

I would also like to mention Mahler's 8th Symphony and the Gothic Symphony by Havergal Brian. While not necessarily an organ symphony; both pieces do feature prominent organs that make their presence knows.

Of course there's also countless concerti and various movie score, so yeah.
 
#32 ·
Some other symphonies that have more or less important organ parts:

- Tchaikovsky, Manfred
- Bax, symphonies nos. 2 and 4
- Ives, symphony no. 4 and the projected Universe Symphony
- Rachmaninoff - The Bells (a choral symphony)
- Mendelssohn - symphony no. 2 "Lobgesang"
- Scriabin - Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus (sometimes called symphonies nos. 4 and 5)