SAINT-SAENS à Notre Dame de Paris (concert 1997)

[strachs100]

Streuth.. I've read some very silly comments here - like forget the 4-hand piano (its the most magic part), the organist looks bored, and this and that is 'out of tune'. Get real people.. it's a fantastic performance by any standards. Might someone out there have the CD details? Merci bien en avance from Down Under..

[anyardsroad]

amazing...a woman with four hands at 0.40!!

[Steff2929again]

This is good. This piece is usually played in concert halls with very short and dry reverberation and often quite weak and colourless organs. Sometimes it's even a horrible mix done in a studio with orchestra and organ in different locations. But here we have the real thing! Full cathedral acoustics and one of the most powerful organs in the world, with a sound that is as French as it can be.

[HighROCOCOlings]

Ever, till far away land, this dum sound by great pill send trust and

France superopor rights , love, huma right,low ,corporation ,healthy justice,

phrosophy,knowledges,libralies with ensychirophdias ,Wine, arts,letters or

good qualitiy political effects,ideals,pure brilliants, vigors, braves, passions etc.of holding histrical great eforts and french goods,I had imaged through listening this ,music in often.

Great !Dom criate human much abilities as beautiful gifts.

[HighROCOCOlings]

All hand higher craft and all traditional on highest prouds of FRANCE!!!!!

All FEANCE !!!!

Sitting position on music accents are very beautiful traditional barance

on naturaly comfortable melodiy line as breathing own ,harmony are this composers higher best proud and fame with wonderful playing as

all and for each own real best majesty surly the greatest in there DOM.

Comfortable good for me

!

[Xaja50]

The moment I saw "Babe" in cinema, I was staring at the end titles waiting for the music section.... And low and behold I found out it was a Saint Saens piece. And I could go out and buy the LP (CD's were too expensive as a student). Wonderfull piece. Excellent performance here.  Sounds exactly like the LP.... funny that. Love it, including the four-handed piano player XD.

[philgraham415]

This organ part of this symphony is seriously the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. The notes are very simple, but their distances between each other are absolutely perfect. I am stunned and get goosebumps every time I hear it. Phenomenal.

[RobPer2011]

I personally had no idea that the song from Babe is based on this beautiful piece. I was looking for a CD that had "Carnival of the Animals" on it, and the symphony was part of it. I was shocked when I found out.

Btw... I bet a lot of children would have gotten scared when the organ let loose. I woulda gotten goosebumps of delight!

[DiegoLiger]

@RobPer2011 I played the organ part at University (four manual organ there. massive beastie) and in the usual concert rehearsals didnt play on "full organ" until the final dress rehearsal when I let it rip and the back row of the violins fell off the stage. whoops!! So yeah even adults get scared by that opening chord.

[HONGYOUNGEUN]

nice 32' Contre Bombarde at last!! and idid find little mistake of piano.

[HONGYOUNGEUN]

nice 32' Contre Bombarde at last!!

[platinumpipes]

What on earth is so sad about thinking of the film "Babe" when you hear this? I saw the film and was so enchanted with the soundtrack I had to do research and made this wonderful discovery. I'll always be so glad I saw Babe because I loved the music in it so much it led me to this!

[Meagwin]

I love performing this piece!

[MithraMusic]

It's so sad that every time I hear this I think of Babe...but altogether this is a great performance from everyone--the awesome organ and piano work are real standouts.

[hmustang88]

superbe <3

[Lacrimosus]

3:21: A voir le geste de sa main, on pourrait croire que la flutiste viens de foirer son passage XD

[19Edurne]

@Lacrimosus

C'est exactement la réflexion que je me faisais !

[lwilde]

Gives me goose bumps!

[baltoman24]

Magnificent performance of this grand masterpiece- great pacing and sense of continuity, but rubato and shaping of all of the great melodic lines. What a stupendous experience- exhilarating! thank you!

[Epaffio]

Che meraviglia :'(

[fctienen]

magnifique interprétation de Saint Saens sous la conduction de Jean Claude Casadesus

[mjnp61801]

The tempo is a little fast for my taste, but still good

[tokyomumbai]

Thank you very much for leading me to heaven.

[ballaghadereen]

I listen to this again and again. C'est merveilleux!!

[klodg]

Superbe !

Aussi ce Do Majeur à l'orgue et le piano à 4 mains..

Saint Saëns qui a su permettre à l'orgue de s'exprimer dans une symphonie..

Et vers la fin c'était aussi voulu par Camille Saint Saëns ce fait de trainer en longueur et de nous faire tellement languir..

[ivanclaysburgh]

0:36 Holy cowl! I did not know that two pianists were playing a duet on the same piano in this song. Dang, they are fast!

[sergej992]

The organist seems to be bored..

[UncagedCardinal]

Some slight tuning problems here between the organ (flat) and orchestra (sharp) but I do like the tempos in this version.

 The St. Ouen version is also worth a listen.

The organ at St. Ouen is an eclipse-swallowing monster.

[TDTom7]

In a word, AWESOME!

[rudly]

Is the organist wearing ear muffs

[MrGribenson]

Splendid video, but why not in stereo ???

[ballaghadereen]

This is truly orgasm music!!!

[drakesummers89za]

The sheer power of the organ is striking...without it the piece would not be complete and would sound like every other symphonic work...the organ separates the piece and places it in a category of its own. St Saens was a genius!

[houseoflange1]

Timo906, It was written by one of the best Organ Composers that ever lived! You don't like the dynamics, or the way it's composed, piss off. Truly you cannot grasp the magnitude of the King Of Instruments! Try and see if you can compose anything better. When you done, post so we can critique you!

[timo906]

wow, look at the finger of those 2 pianists. Amazing, and it's sounds great. The only thing that's bottering me is the organ, I think the whole melody is too nice to be ruined by a big heavy motherfucking organ. Is there any version of this symphony without organ?

Greetz Timo

[bobcooper31]

@timo906 I think you'll find it hard to find a version of the symphony without an organ as Saint Saens composed the symphony specifically for an organ. I love a great pipe organ & reckon those incredible vibrations could well start a landslide or earthquake if all the windows of the Notre Dame cathedral were opened at the same time. I love a symphony orchestra too but not too sure if I'd be satisfied sans organ.

bobcooper31 10 seconds ago

[goodchappy]

@timo906 I'd rather have just organ, stuff the orchestra and piano. Until you have played an organ and know what it can do, I don't think anyone knows how good they are to play and listen to. There is much organ music I don't like, this clip is not the best I have heard, the orchestra is not in tune with the organ. From talking to many people, its obvious the organ is widely misunderstood, many people don't even realise organs have pedal boards and that organists ARE the most skilled musicians.

[AandCorganlovers]

@goodchappy it isn't that they aren't in tune... it is because of the acoustics of the hall and microphone placement.... in such a big space the sound is going to sag....which makes it go flat... the microphones were next to the orchestra which is why the pitches for the orchestra sounds higher... there is a big delay in how the sound travels from way up top where the organ is situated and way down low where the orchestra was situated. if you were there, you'd have never heard the difference.

[goodchappy]

@AandCorganlovers It may be true that the spacial effect made the organ sound flat but I have heard this in large Cathedrals and the organ has sounded flat and this is probably because the air had warmed up causing it to go flat compared to the orchestra and piano which did not retune since the start of the performance. Obviously you cannot retune some instruments during a performance like the piano :-) This performance - Saint Saens Symphony No. 3 at St. Ouen is a lot better.

[AandCorganlovers]

@timo906 just to give you a heads up... the entire symphony (all of it's movements) has the nickname of being the "Organ Symphony". The organ is present in every single movement as being the leader in this work, not neccessarily as a virtuosic (fancy) part, but even some of the most simple things can be of the most significance.

My suggestion: do a little homework before deciding on how you think it should before making a public statement.

[john1801rambo]

my score is marked crotchet = 92 so this seems about right. Nice playing...

[john2445]

beautiful

[macgiollabuide]

This is an AMAZING arrangement however the prize for me goes to the film and sound engineers for capturing the excitement of the performance.

[MrAlex413x]

PEDAL !!!! at 8:00

[EmilyPeppercorn]

This is my marching band's show music this year. I love it!

[SavedandSound]

In a word, glorious.

[JonnyB1982]

Christ I thought that woman on the piano had 4 hands for a second!!! Lol never knew he scored a piano duet too. truly amazing!

[NuovoPiero]

Magnificent ! I have a dear friend who studied with Maurice Durufle' on this organ in the 1970's.

[Travestipsy94]

I'm playing this part with the best youth orchestre from Holland!!! (I'm pianiste)

[falaqdad15]

Which organ in Paris is the largest organ either built by or modified by Caville Coll? Notre Dame, St Sulpice, St Eustache i know are all very big.

SAINT-SAENS=Genius!!

[maxouf1]

@falaqdad15 If I'm not mistaking, St Suplice 101 stops, St Eustache 102, Notre Dame 112, which is largest in France. I played a "new" one in Lille Cathedral (100 stops coming from Radio France hall, Paris), which is another rare 100+ in France. After all, the bigger is not necessarily the better. I enjoyed so much some ~15 stops. 50/60 is great, perfect and much enough. N-D is exception :P. But too big and too far from people makes music seems a flood and you can't distinguish what is played...

[maxouf1]

St SuLpice, sorry =)

[yannmontero]

notre dames was 90 stops when it was built by ACC, it was grewn up to 112 stops since 1992 with boisseau work. But now days the largest ACC organ is saint sulpice one, totaly autehentic

[valeriealmamarie]

C'est absolument parfait.

Merci pour avoir partagé cet instant de grâce...

[GERARDFRANCE]

Where is the four hands piano ?

[jafleischman93]

@GERARDFRANCE 0:37-0:51 theres a shot of them playing

[falaqdad15]

@GERARDFRANCE

you can see it at 0:48

[dropman]

congratulations

[Laudesi82]

This is now my favorite version! I like it more than the (also marvelous) Alain-Martinon!

[MegaDani141]

@Laudesi82 I think, that and the Version of St.Quen are REALLY the BEST :)

[18bcarlson]

All I can say about this piece of music is that I love it! I would have loved to be in the audience listening to this concert.

[MrAlex413x]

i agree the loudest instrument on earth !

wondeful the organ part is the best my record ! question wil he have the 32' reeds going aswel? anybody on that

[LJBSasha]

Oh yes, they're very much there!! [The trouble is that they're not heard at their best here, due to 1) TV broadcast-sound anyway being poor for the most part, 2) here what there is happens to be biased anyway towards the orchestra.]

[MrAlex413x]

write ok thank you for that , is that the loudest the organ can go ? or would it dround the orchestra out if it went ant louder than on the vid . alex

[poopingeneral]

The Pipe Organ dwarfs everyone and everything in that room/space.

LOL and the organist is wearing hearing protection...

[ThirtyTwoFoot]

There are loads of bum notes and false entries in the orchestra. The organ has a small (but loud) part to play in this piece. The piano parts are far more difficult..

[LJBSasha]

Regarding the false entries and wrong notes, may I ask you, please, for a few examples? It would be nice to check them against the score published on the IMSLP online music library...

[The only thing I caught was one of the trumpets being somewhat out-of-tune in the fanfares where the organ has the main theme of this excerpt. Otherwise, it seemed that the orchestra was coping very well with unusual acoustics...]

[altpapapi]

My guess would be to synchronize with the orchestra considering the distance which may exist between the organ console and the players. His headphone feed is probably from microphones located very near the orchestra.

[LJBSasha]

It's likely also so he can get an idea of the balance with the orchestra (with extra mikes placed further away in such a case), especially since he otherwise wouldn't possibly be able to hear them well given his colleagues' location being UNDER the organ-gallery!! He can visually synchorise with the conductor via the built-in console monitor connected to a camera facing Jean-Claude Casadesus; however, for better coördination + balance, that's where the headphones come in.

[dwarrren9]

Why is the organist wearing headphones?

[yannmontero]

you can't imagine how the power of this amazing organ is, jsut with the chamades trumpet you can't hear correctly the orchestra

[poopingeneral]

not headphones, hearing protection (organ is the loudest instrument on earth)

[isaboules]

No, i'm a professionnal organist. When we play with orchestras or choirs, we need sometimes to waer headphones to hear the orchestra. Because, when we are to far from the orchestra, it's difficult to be in same time, because of the acoustic (décalage)

[ctagle23]

i agree that the pipe organ is the loudest instrument but the organist must wear the 'headphones' so that he can hear on real time the orchestra below. or else he will hear them half a second too late. i agree with isaboules.

[lee1984yate]

Oh those 32' pedal reeds :-D

[LJBSasha]

One good thing this recording proves: good orchestras CAN play successfully and sound excellent in large churches and cathedrals - muddiness doesn't have to be insurmountable. Such a performance ought to be an encouragement for more orchestral concerts - and also recordings - in such venues so that it's no longer is necessary to record an organ and an orchestra separately, Hallelujah!!!! In spite of the defects, this indeed DOES merit a full 5 stars!!!!

[LJBSasha]

This is not to gainsay the need for pipe-organs in concert halls - OF COURSE one needs them, and the more halls that have organs where large orchestras play, the better!!! However, it's good to see that one can also have orchestras play in big churches and come off so well as here!!!

[LJBSasha]

Only one thing that could have been better would have been to have more strings present - 70 or 80 instead of the 50 I deduce were present (from the number of double-basses {6} and 'celli {8}, one can usually extrapolate the number of viols {10} and violins {12 +14 = 26}). This (plus having the principal wind-players doubled in 'fortissimi' passages) would then allow the organ to be louder without being at risk of outgunning the others.

[LJBSasha]

Absolutely beautiful, even if the recording level is too low (pity)!!! Nevertheless, I'm surprised at how the orchestral (and also organ) sound is otherwise clear - were they close-miking them all? [I'd have expected considerably more difficulty otherwise in hearing as much detail and crispness given what one would expect in an exceedingly reverberant building like what Notre-Dame de Paris is supposed to be - one would have expected a far muddier result. Thank goodness it isn't!! WONDERFUL!!

[Obroten]

MAGNIFICENT!!!

[tamiasthechipmunk]

Awesome!

[bernardoviolista]

GOD EXISTS

[Musicomanie]

Exaltant!!!

[passacaglia28]

Bravissimo! Wow! What a performance. It is a shame the organ fell really silent at parts but whatever. This was excellent as a whole. Well done!

[LJBSasha]

No, it's never silent where it should be otherwise; however, it strongly seems that one or both of the following are true: 1) M. Philippe Lefèbvre is holding somewhat back, 2) the sound engineers are favouring the orchestra. [Thus, where the organ adds bass chords under the upper strings and the 4-hand piano, it's softer compared to commercial recordings (this must have been in days BEFORE hi-fi TV came on the scene)...]

[passacaglia28]

I see. Thanks for the info. I am a novice at these things. I thought this was a stellar performance all around. :D

[LJBSasha]

And it IS stellar on the part of all the musicians including the organist and the conductor! There's nothing to regret or look down upon. Personally, I wish yours truly could have been there in the audience...

I only wish that the recording engineers had brought sound equipment that would match the video capabilities they lavished on this event and so have done proper justice to it audio-wise. [My suspicion leans towards them being the villains - I doubt the organist was holding back.]

[Darth13ane]

FOR THE EMPEROR!

[Sharagran]

GLORY TO THE ALLFATHER!

[djbjr1130]

is the organist wearing ear protection???

[organmaster1989]

No, he is wearing a headphone which is connected to a microphone near the orchestra to make sure they play at the same moment

[lllmozartlll]

Excellente performance de M. Lefebvre et l'orchestre National de Lille - impressionant! Sans aucun doute le plus magnifique concert pour orgues et orchestre qui existe. Simplement formidable!

[tyrelroo]

Now that's how you do that. You don't add an organ to an orchestra because it's subtle.

[LJBSasha]

Oh yes, sometimes you can and DO add it precisely for subtlety's effect - it depends on the composer and his intentions...

[bachjs1750]

très beau, fantastique

[cezig]

J'aurais aimé y assister !

[simonsteam]

Have to say I was there for this concert.and the organ did sound incredible.much better than this recording.and at the final cord it blew us away with its power/was well above the orchestra and we were sat at least halfway down the nave!

[LJBSasha]

Dare I venture that part of the reason is that the organ is so high-up vs. the orchestra being at ground-level? [Is this also to suggest that the organ did NOT after all hold back due to the orchestra being a little smaller than what one might have liked? That in other words, it was the broadcast/recording engineers who tamed the organ down compared to the orchestra in terms of getting more ensemble detail accommodated on what still wasn't beamed/taped in hi-fi? All the more of a pity!...]

[JLGARCIAII]

I bet that tympanist at the end there lived only for the preparation of the finale and then retired to a quiet cottage in Taize.

[ds1868]

I'm not sure what's going on here. The recording level (or even the registration) for the Organ is way too low. Just listen to the opening chord of the Organ - simply doesn't sound right, or is it down to transfer to youtube? Shame. I would like to hear this at NDdeP with the correct level - let's have the Organ blasting down the nave please!!!!!

[iaidokafu]

I'm agree with you it's a bit ashme when you seems to know haw powerfull is the organ of NDDP, in en other hand and the end of the movment, when the pedal desent apear with the final chord, you realise that the organ is much powerfull than the orchestra ! It'es ashame to to cannot herd better the extra contrabombarde 32 of that huge organ !

[ds1868]

I think someone has turned down the recording level for the Organ. Nice camerawork though - which is not the point really. Does this sum up French culture - all show and no substance?

[marsvltor2]

I don't know about the 'French culture' tag: I've a recording of Cochereau with the Berlin Phil (a phone-line job), and again, the organ sounds very muted (and that's with the Boisseau trumpets pre-restoration...).

[MartinPadderborn]

I don't know where you're from, but the answer to your assinine question is NO.

[ds1868]

Since you're not French, how would you know? Not another Torygraph reader from Dordogneshire surely?

[MartinPadderborn]

Wrong on both counts,and the answer to your assinine question is still NO.

[ds1868]

Only a berk would ever need to repeat himself. BERK.

[MartinPadderborn]

Not if the interlocuter was too dumb to get it the first time round.

[roethinger]

il y a aussi une version filmé avec Pierre Cochereau et Daniel Barenboim tournée au début des années 80,me semble t-il! si quelqu'un avait ça dans ses archives!... ;-) :-)

[iaidokafu]

fimée en êtes vous sure... je la veux !!!! :-) cochereau, le grand orgue d'avant et cette symphonie... j'en salive !

[ChalieChaplin]

Fantastique!!! Grand Philipe!!! Et Saint-saens!!!

[vutter2002]

Very Nice , Thanks for sending me this.

I was in 2001 in the Notre Dame in Paris

en heard de fenominal accoustic.

[bombarde1701]

WOOOOW! Thanks for sending me this! The Cochereau recording is fantastic but this is super also!

[Crayonneur]

Très beau (même si la compression audio du site ne lui rend pas justice).

J'imagine que le casque sur les oreilles de l'organiste sert à percevoir le retour de l'orchestre, c'est bien ça?

[LJBSasha]

Grace a que l'orchestre est ici situé au-dessous de l'orgue - et aussi donné l'acoustique de la cathédrale! - sans le casque sur les oreilles il sera presque impossible pour synchroniser l'orgue avec les autres optimalement. Même si l'organiste peut voir le chef d'orchestre sur un ou plusieurs écrans du télévision a circuite fermée (sans cela on aurait encore plus des difficultés), la casque est indispensable pour proprement ecouter l'ensemble et donc avoir une idée de la balance.

[LJBSasha]

En toutes évènements, je regrette en avance toutes les fautes du grammaire, ponctuation, etc. qu'ici sont présent. Le français n'est pas ma première langue, mais d'ai voulé assister le comprehension de celui qui a posé le question initial. Si ce but était proprement satisfié, c'est suffisant...

[Gulalogondrina]

tres beau , un tempo diffent a celui que j'ai fait , mais c'est le gout du directeur qui mène son orchestre , tres belle prestation beau vidéo et bravo à M. Lefebvre que j'admire beaucoup....superbe ...5 étoiles