Excellent. It was one of the first CD's I bought, a few months after I started listening to classical music (talking mid 80's here). I still remember the shock when I first heard the grand tune on the organ - because I knew that melody from a #1 hit in the pop charts a decade earlier (If I Had Words by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley). In spite of this, it was love at first hearing for this symphony and that has not changed. 6/6 (hors concours, one of just over 100 most favourite classical music compositions) on the Artrockometer.

 

I've loved this work for decades - excellent.

 

One of the best 19th c symphonies by any one. Terrifically entertaining from start to finish. Just get a good cd, a nice French red wine, crank up the surround system and let it rip! Munch/Boston, Paray/Detroit, Dutoit, Maazel...there are plenty of excellent recordings. But the one closest to my heart: E Power Biggs, Ormandy, Philadelphia on Sony - the stereo version.

 

It's a brilliant piece in its way but I never cared very much for it, Seems gimmicky overall with the piano and organ mostly for "cheap effects". (I guess I am too much of a Brahmsian....)

 

Brilliantly creative, YES. Gimmicky?....NO! St. Saens was amongst the most conservative of his day, though a consummate artist. You also must remember he was one of the greatest organists of his day.

 

I'm absolutely a big Brahmsian and perhaps this is why I've neglected this piece... I'm aware of Karajan/Cochereau, Levine/Preston, and Munch's BSO recording. I have nothing against it, it's just something I've listened to frequently enough. As an organist, I should probably develop more of an appreciation for a work that showcases my instrument.

 

IIRC Levine/DG is one of the few with the organ actually in the same hall, not dubbed in as usual. I don't dislike the piece but neither would I miss it if I never heard it again.

 

I enjoy it. It's one of the first pieces that come to mind when I think of works for organ and orchestra (along with Mahler 8 and the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana). If the organ weren't such a venue-limiting factor, we would probably hear this piece performed a lot more frequently.

 

It's an excellent work, but I don't rank it amongst Saint-Saëns' best works. I do enjoy it whenever I listen to it, though.

 

It's an outstanding piece in my view, my favorite of all works I know by Saint-Saëns. I greatly enjoy all it's movements, but particularly the second. Purely in terms of my personal taste, I put this piece roughly at the same level of Beethoven's Pastoral symphony with Bernstein/Vienna PO, Dvorák's From the New World symphony with Karajan/Berlin PO, Mahler's Resurrection symphony with Klemperer, Schwarzkopf/Philharmonia O, and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon album: a 9.0 out of 10!

 

This begs the question: how well do you know Saint-Saëns' oeuvre?

 

From the works I know of Saint Saens (all orchestral music, and not even all of that), it’s my favourite work. I read a quote somewhere that Saint Saens said basically that this was his Magnum Opus. I’m not sure if that’s true yet but I can’t imagine another work of his trumping the enjoyment I get from listening to this masterpiece. It is one of the my favourite works. I imprinted on Munch, an excellent performance, but marred by the sound quality. Normally I am fine with anything stereo but this is not one of the better earlier stereo recordings and this work also requires good sonics I believe. So my preference goes out to Barenboim, just as excellent in interpretation as Munch and way better recorded. Also on the same album you get the easily best version of the Danse Bacchanale, but instead with the orchestre de Paris instead of the Chicago symphony orchestra. Levine I find a little too slow and old school for my tastes. This is the piece that is one the top of my bucket list to see live. Let’s pray the RCO programs it in next season

 

I voted : Excellent. The recording de Waart made with Jean Guillou (organ) and the San Francisco Symphony orchestra is my all time favourite, these days I am very fond on Kantorow on BIS.

 

Have you heard this one, @Rogerx?

This particular set is now my reference for the Saint-Saëns symphonies. Superb playing and audio quality!

 

Oh, I really love this one! I'm a big fan of how that little theme prefigured in the accompaniment of the first section of the exposition of the first movement keeps coming back in various guises, transforming before the listener's ear slowly but surely before finally entering in all its glory at the gorgeous passage with piano and strings. One of the very best uses of cyclic form, in my eyes.

And given Saint-Saens' little experiments earlier to adopt some kind of cyclic treatment of melodies, most notably in the Piano Concerto n. 4, I feel the self-declared "magnum opus" title really does apply here pretty well. I've listened to all the concertos and the trios and the quintets, (some of) the operas, the Christmas oratorio, the Requiem mass... and there is something here which just feels a little bit better expressed. I have no real substantiation for this feeling, just the feeling itself.

I really like Munch and Barenboim, but there are so many other lovely recordings out there. There are also a lot of rough ones too, though, so it takes some sifting to make sure you've not stumbled anywhere too far afield.

What Dvorak's 7th is to the Czech music scene (that sort of first big-deal internationally acclaimed blockbuster symphony), I feel like Saint-Saens 3 (without casting aspersions on d'Indy or Bizet) is to the French. Of course Berlioz wrote a few corkers, but that was fifty years prior. That Franck and Chausson wrote theirs so soon afterwards is particularly interesting to me. I like those two as well, and feel like they are a sort of natural continuation for listeners who enjoy the Saint-Saens.

 

Excellent! Thanks for sharing

 

Very Good, an enjoyable and inventive work. I would endorse the recommendations for Barenboim's recording with the Chicago Symphony.

 

I wish most of conductors didn't take the final timpani strokes too fast. For me it works better when that specific moment is not rushed, it feels more majestic and imposing. Actually, now I've come to think, I'm not aware of any recording with that moment taken truly right.

 

I know exactly what you mean: the very end, those timpani beats, just feels like it needs a ritardando to seal the deal and give a sense of finality. But here's the catch: there is NO ritard marked in the score! Was it an oversight or omission? Not a chance Saint-Saens was too careful and detailed composer to make that mistake and if you look at the last pages of the score he is very precise what he wants: tempo markings all over, stringendo, and even "don't rush" several times. He's very clear. So, those conductors who blaze on to the end without a slow down are correct!

 

I've just launched a new poll for my competition in the Movie Corner: Best Original Musical or Comedy Score - 1996


How do you rate the symphony no. 3 of Saint-Saëns?

I must confess that I have not developed an appreciation for the organ. Perhaps too much association with Catholic mass ceremonies as a youngster. Those dull hours of sermons while whiffing the strange and unnatural essence of insense. Which never smelled like the woodlands that I enjoyed exploring.

 

I'm not a huge organ either but there are some exceptions and I do like it when the organ is used for textural effect.

 

I think that the Symphony is great and have multiple recordings with Munch/BSO as a favorite. I'm the Abbey organist, so I'm not very objective on the work. I've heard it twice in concert. Once with a community orchestra but with a real organ, the other with the St. Louis SO and a digital organ.

 

Do you have the KC recording with Krabill on Reference?

 

If I were to pick a favorite performance of this symphony, it would be Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphians (w/ organist E. Power Biggs):

Earlier last year, I bought the Japanese DSD remaster of this recording and was blown away by it (it's coupled with an equally impressive account of the Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition). For those that love Japanese remasters, don't hesitate to buy this one.

 

In one way; I love this piece. This was one of two works of classical music that really got me back into...well, classical music. The use of both the organ AND the piano is just so creative and striking that it never fails to send the chills; especially if a conductor/organist is not afraid to let the organ go full blow and allows the piano to sound magical.

On the other hand...the symphony feels somewhat forgettable, and I don't understand why. I feel Widor does a better job with it on his own third symphony and...well, I guess maybe with me preferring Berlioz, Bruckner, and Mahler, Saint-Saens' just fell off.

 

I encourage you to continue to try with Saint-Saëns. His oeuvre is quite vast. I think the best way I can sum him up is that he's a Classicist in Romantic sheep clothing. There is also a fantastical part of his idiom that reminds me of Mendelssohn and Ravel.

This is kind of an interesting video:

 

Okay...rant time:

I wish listeners would look beyond the "big hits" like the 3rd symphony, Le Carnaval des animaux, the 2nd PC (or is it the 3rd PC that is most popular?), Danse macabre, 3rd VC (maybe?) and the opera Samson et Dalila. Saint-Saëns composed A LOT of music --- a massive oeuvre. There's a whole plethora of operas he composed that hardly get any mention at all. Anyway, it's just a frustrating experience being a huge fan of this composer and trying to talk with other classical listeners who only know those well-known works and don't really bother exploring his oeuvre in any depth. Also, there's a criticism about his music in that it lacks depth, which I, of course, have to laugh at as these so-called "critics" don't know what the hell they're talking about (per usual). If you listen to a work like La Nuit, this puts this criticism to rest for good.

Okay, rant over.

As I wrote awhile back about the 3rd symphony, I think it's a fantastic work, but there are much better works in his oeuvre, IMHO.

Oh and my favorite performance of the 3rd is Munch/BSO on RCA. A performance that hasn't been topped for me.

 

There is also nothing unusual about a few works sticking out from a large oeuvre of a composer. It's more the rule than the exception although Saint Saens might be one of the more extreme cases (after the true "one hit wonders").

 

I would highly recommend listening to the Sticky Notes podcast on the Organ Symphony.
The movements and themes are highly interelated.
One of the problems with this perception of this symphony is the playing of just the fourth part (technically not even a whole movement) . The rest of the symphony is neglected in a way that say the first three movements of Beethoven 9 are not.

 

A great new restoration of the 1952 Toscanini performance was posted on YouTube this morning.