{"id":34361,"date":"2016-02-20T11:23:34","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T16:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=34361"},"modified":"2016-02-20T11:24:48","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T16:24:48","slug":"record-keeping-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2016\/02\/20\/record-keeping-5\/","title":{"rendered":"RECORD KEEPING | Montreal Symphony Orchestra: Saint-Sa\u00ebns\/Moussa\/Saariaho"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"OSM
Montreal Symphony Orchestra\/Kent Nagano: Saint-Sa\u00ebns – Moussa – Saariaho<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Saint-Sa<\/strong>\u00ebns\/ Samy Moussa\/Kaija Saariaho. Olivier Latry & Jean-Willy Kurz (organ). Montreal Symphony Orchestra<\/strong>\/Kent Nagano. Analekta. Total Time: 66:07.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Montreal Symphony Orchestra finally got the first-class concert hall it deserved in September, 2011, but it wasn\u2019t until three years later that the new organ was up and running in Maison symphonique. To celebrate the occasion, the MSO presented an inaugural concert for the Grand Organ \u201cPierre B\u00e9ique\u201d on May 28, 2014. The Saint-Sa\u00ebns Organ Symphony was the centerpiece of the concert, but new works for organ and orchestra by Canadian composer Samy Moussa and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho were also included.<\/p>\n

Named for the MSO\u2019s founder and longtime general manager Pierre B\u00e9ique, the new organ is said to have been designed and built by \u201c Casavant with the collaboration of architects Diamond Schmitt + AEdifica for its visual design.\u201d For the record, Casavant is a famous organ builder based in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. There seems, however, to be some dispute about who actually designed this instrument, particularly concerning the placement of the pipes and console, and the extremely imaginative look of the entire organ set-up on the wall behind the orchestra. According to an article in the Montreal Gazette<\/em>, credit should be given to either Didier Grassin, a Casavant employee at the time the instrument was built or to architect Jack Diamond –\u00a0 but that is a mystery to be solved another day.<\/p>\n

The Grand Organ Pierre B\u00e9ique has 83 stops, 116 ranks, and 6,489 pipes. Jean-Willy Kunz, the MSO\u2019s Organist in Residence, is featured in the Moussa piece on this CD, while Olivier Latry, the renowned organist at Notre-Dame in Paris and also the MSO\u2019s Organist Emeritus, is organ soloist for the Saint-Sa\u00ebns and Saariaho works.<\/p>\n

A few years back I heard a wonderful \u2013 if physically challenging – performance of the Saint-Sa\u00ebns by the MSO under its former music director Zubin Mehta, at the Notre-Dame Basilica in old Montreal. The orchestra was on floor level at one end of the cathedral, and the organist was in a loft at the other end of the building. Given the long reverberation time, it was an amazing feat for Mehta and the musicians to be so well synchronized with the organ.<\/p>\n

Maison symphonique poses no such physical challenge since the organ is located right behind the orchestra. Unfortunately, Analekta chose to provide no photos of either the organ or its location in Maison symphonique, other than the inadequate CD booklet cover shot. To fully appreciate the visual beauty of the organ and its integration into the hall, do a google search of \u201cGrand Organ Pierre B\u00e9ique\u201d and click on \u201cimages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem for any composer writing for organ and orchestra is that the former can so easily overwhelm the latter to the point where even the largest orchestra can be made to sound puny and irrelevant. Saint-Saens cleverly solves this problem in his Organ Symphony by holding back the full force of the organ until the last movement. The organ doesn\u2019t play at all in the first movement, and in the second movement, poco Adagio,<\/em> it is never allowed to play louder than pianissimo.<\/em><\/p>\n

Whatever conductor Kent Nagano does, he does with taste and transparency. That is certainly the case with the Organ Symphony. For example, he takes great care to ensure that the piano parts come through with maximum clarity. At the end of the piece, when the organ is finally allowed to cut loose, it makes a glorious sound. That said, there is a restraint in Nagano\u2019s conducting that undermines some of the most compelling features of the symphony. The trumpets, for example, are almost inaudible throughout. For comparison, listen to the legendary 1959 recording by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony (RCA Victor 61387). Munch was never noted for his restraint and in that 1959 recording, he inspired his orchestra to go all out. What a performance!<\/p>\n

Neither of the contemporary composers\u2019 works presented on this CD avoid the problem I mentioned earlier \u2013 preventing the organ from flattening the orchestra. Samy Moussa, born in Montreal, now lives in Berlin. A Globe Itself Unfolding<\/em> was commissioned by the MSO, and this was its first performance. Based on slowly changing chords, it ends with a massive crescendo. In this piece, the organ is used less as a solo instrument and more as a helpful generator of an enormous weight of sound. The MSO musicians must have been cowering in fear when the organ let loose. I can\u2019t say I found the piece particularly engrossing.<\/p>\n

Kaija Saariaho\u2019s Maan Varjot<\/em> was also commissioned by the MSO for this occasion. Although she insists in her notes on the piece that this is not an organ concerto, the organ clearly gets to have most of the fun. The orchestra, when it can be heard at all, seems to provide little more than embellishment. Such is Saariaho\u2019s ear for sound, however, that she gets a vast range of colours and textures out of the organ. The audience at Maison symphonique must have been amazed at what they heard. But again, one has to sympathize with the MSO musicians as they soldier on in the face of an onslaught of sound that threatens to obliterate everything they are asked to do.<\/p>\n

Montreal Symphony Orchestra\/Saint-Sa\u00ebns, Moussa & Saariaho<\/strong> is available for purchase via\u00a0Amazon.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

#LUDWIGVAN<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Want more updates on Toronto-centric classical music news and review\u00a0before anyone else finds out? Get our exclusive newsletter\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<\/em>Facebook<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>for all the latest.<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A review of the inaugural concert of the Grand Orgue Pierre-B\u00e9ique at Maison symphonique de Montr\u00e9al, which features the great organists Oliver Latry and Jean-Willy Kunz alongside the MSO and Kent Nagano.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":34362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5723,77,81,5739,51,52],"tags":[5915,5914,1858,2272,2912,4392],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/02\/81Us9lYBi5L._SL1425_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-8Wd","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34361"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34365,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34361\/revisions\/34365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34361"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=34361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}