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Symphonic Steampunk: Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony

Tom Service dissects Camille Saint-Saëns's Third Symphony, his 'Organ Symphony', famously featured in the Disney film Babe. With organist Anna Lapwood.

"I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again." So said child prodigy, virtuoso pianist, intellectual, conductor and composer Camille Saint-SaĂ«ns about his wildly successful 1873 ‘Organ Symphony’. Famously featured in the 1995 porcine Disney film Babe, it’s still immensely popular today. But where did it come from? What was Saint-SaĂ«ns trying to achieve and how influenced was he by his Parisian contemporaries? With organist Anna Lapwood on the thrill of playing ‘that chord’ in the Royal Albert Hall at the ±«Óătv Proms.

Producer: Ruth Thomson

Available now

29 minutes

Last on

Fri 10 Feb 2023 16:30
±«Óătv Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Nigel Westlake

    SAINT-SAENS/NIGEL WESTLAKE: Babe - 'This is a Tale...'

    • Varese Sarabande.
    • VSD 5661.

  • JONATHAN HODGE

    If I Had Words

    Performer: Yvonne Keeley. Performer: Scott Fitzgerald.
    • UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS.
    • UP36333.

  • Benedictine Nuns of Notre Dame

    TRADITIONAL: Dies Irae

    • Decca.
    • 2748264.

  • Camille Saint‐SaĂ«ns

    Symphony no. 3 in C minor Op.78 (Organ symphony)

    Performer: Daniel Roth. Performer: Les Siùcles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
    • HMM 905348.

  • Camille Saint‐SaĂ«ns

    Symphony in A major [c.1850]

    Performer: American Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leon Botstein.
    • ASO.
    • 084854262364.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no. 41 in C major K.551 (Jupiter)

    Performer: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 4838228.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 7 in A major Op.92

    Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 4838228.

  • Camille Saint‐SaĂ«ns

    Symphony in F major (Urbs Roma)

    Performer: Malmö SymfoniOrkester. Conductor: Marc Soustrot.
    • Naxos.
    • 8.573140.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie fantastique Op.14

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • LSO-0007 CD.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie funebre et triomphale Op.15 for military band (strings & chorus ad lib.)

    Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 475-7765.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Harold en Italie - symphony Op.16 for viola and orchestra

    Performer: Antoine Tamestit. Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Valery Gergiev.
    • LSO LIVE.
    • LSO 0760.

  • Jeanne Louise Dumont Farrenc

    Symphony no. 3 in G minor Op.36

    Performer: European Soloists, Luxembourg. Conductor: Christoph Konig.
    • NAXOS.
    • 8.574094.

  • Charles‐Marie Widor

    Symphony no. 5 in F minor Op.42 No.1 for organ

    Performer: David Humphreys.
    • LAMMAS.
    • LAMM178D.

  • Camille Saint‐SaĂ«ns

    Le Carnaval des animaux

    Performer: Toulouse Capitole Orchestra. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 9029641543.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie fantastique Op.14

    Performer: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 474 165-2.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Feb 2023 17:00
    ±«Óătv Radio 3
  • Fri 10 Feb 2023 16:30
    ±«Óătv Radio 3

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