# Saint Saens 3th



## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

I ´d like to know your opinion about one my favorites symphonies, Camille Saint Saens 3th, the "Organ Symphony". Would you recommend some versions. I have one from von Karajan and Piere Cochereau, from 1982, and other with Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, from 1987. Both very nice.
Thanks in advance


----------



## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I'm by no means an expert on this particular work but this one was always highly recommended to me...

Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra with E. Power Biggs as the Organist.

Also...

Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony with Berj Zamkochian


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

realdealblues said:


> I'm by no means an expert on this particular work but this one was always highly recommended to me...
> 
> Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra with E. Power Biggs as the Organist.
> 
> ...


The Munch/BSO (Living Stereo) was remastered by JVC from the tapes to produce an amazingly detailed recording. There is also an SACD remastering I haven't heard that received similar approval.


----------



## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

I have the Munch/Boston recording, as well. The symphony is paired with _La Mer_ and Ibert's _Escales_, also excellent performances.


----------



## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

My favourite has always been Paul Paray and the Detroit Orchestra, a terrific performance,the organist is Marcel Dupre.
I suppose it's part of the obscene box set issue now.


----------



## Guest (Dec 12, 2013)

I love my Levine/Preston. Listened to some Karajan one that sounded kinda distorted in the fourth movement...eh.


----------



## Llyranor (Dec 20, 2010)

One of my top10 symphonies, really love it. I have the Munch version as well.


----------



## Cadenza (Sep 24, 2012)

It's a top-ten favorite for me too, and my go to recording is by Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony.


----------



## Vesteralen (Jul 14, 2011)

Over forty years ago I had a budget label recording of this on LP that I wore out. I can not find any reference to it now. On Google images I can see just the top half of the LP cover (orange border, flowers on a pond in the framed picture). I can't tell the label and I don't remember the orchestra. The conductor was someone I never heard of before or since. I think his last name was Italian and his first name was Robert or Roberto.

Anyway, I played this disc so many times on my grandfather's stereo that he begged me never to play it again.

I could never fully appreciate Munch's version because compared to this disc I cut my teeth on, it seemed like he was rushing through it. This is one work that, to me, benefits from a slightly more relaxed and lyrical interpretation. (Normally, I'm a big Munch fan, by the way. Just not for this piece.)


----------



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Vesteralen said:


> [...]
> I could never fully appreciate Munch's version because compared to this disc I cut my teeth on, it seemed like he was rushing through it. This is one work that, to me, benefits from a slightly more relaxed and lyrical interpretation. (Normally, I'm a big Munch fan, by the way. Just not for this piece.)


That slower version must be in a deep mental groove. 

This work only works for me when I can make out the orchestral details (then they are both effective and ingenious). Most recordings let those details recede into the wash of sound, and I get the sensation of listening to a sort of retro Grofe/Herbert collaboration, with maybe a dash of Gottschalk.


----------



## techniquest (Aug 3, 2012)

Cracking choice csacks! 
It may not be the popular option, but I really like this recording by the Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra under Loris Tjeknavorian. If you really want to shake the pictures off the wall at the end, this is the one for you. If you want good orchestral detail and serene quieter sections, this is also for you. And since it's on the Regis label, it's really cheap too!


----------



## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

^ I love the cover photo 

The version I have is by Georges Prêtre/Vienna Symphoniker with Marie-Claire Alain on organ. No idea how it compares, but Alain is considered one of the great organists. Picked it up for $5, used: a good introduction to a composer I know next to nothing about.


----------



## Guest (Dec 14, 2013)

I just noticed the thread title reads "Saint Saens Threeth" - a clever play on...words or something, OP


----------



## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Now I'm inspired to pull out my copies of both the Saint-Saens *Third* and the Copland* First.* I've always been quite fond of both. :kiss:


----------



## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Saint-Saëns and Copland are two composers who seem to have only written Third Symphonies, the way the others never get programmed.


----------

