Saint-Saëns: Symphony No.3 – Ulrich Meldau

   in Choir & Organ (Mar, 2019)
Guy Bovet has always been one of the most creative thinkers of the organ world. Here he transcribes Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony as an organ concerto with a pared-down orchestration. This to sooth the organist’s ‘guilty conscience as they take their bow together with the conductor, having played no more than a few chords’. It’s a fun idea and the organ’s interjections throughout the first movement and the scherzo raise an eyebrow. But I can’t help thinking that from the opening clarinet and flute solos (transferred to the organ) to the piano duo, the work loses much more than it gains. Guy Bovet’s cadenza in the last movement upsets a momentum already …