When we think of a concerto for solo instrument and orchestra, the organ is certainly not the first instrument that comes to mind. And yet, the symphonic organ is perfectly adapted to the role of soloist, being capable of duelling as well as duetting with the orchestra.
The Concerto for organ, strings, horns and timpani Op.100 by Marco Enrico Bossi, for example, is one of the most important and successful pieces in the entire repertoire, and yet it does not enjoy the recognition it deserves among the wider public. Structured in three movements of genuine expressive power, this is music that is both majestic and intimate, able to touch the hearts of listeners and performers alike – a work on which this great composer really lavished his extraordinary creativity. After reading through the score, Giuseppe Verdi was effusive in his praise for the Concerto Op.100, acknowledging the music’s ‘extremely bold and powerful effects’. His visionary genius is clearly displayed in the Concerto Op.100, whose solo part calls for a dynamic and symphonic organ that didn’t yet exist in Italy at the time when he was a student but which he was probably already dreaming up.
Hymne by Joseph Jongen is a real rarity. The organ has less of a ‘solo’ role than in the Bossi and Poulenc works; rather, it blends into the warm textures of the orchestra as an integral part of the sonic conversational flow so typical of Jongen’s impressionist idiom. Here too, the composition of the Gland organ and its eminently full, warm and poetic sound are an ideal showcase for the mysterious atmosphere of this work.
Unlike the Bossi and Jongen works, the Concerto for organ, strings and timpani by Francis Poulenc is very well known indeed. Uncharacteristically written in a single movement divided into seven sections, this concerto is surely one of the best-known organ works of the 20th century. In certain sections the sonorous, weighty and deliberately strident organ writing is juxtaposed alongside orchestral textures that are extremely graceful and poetic, almost like a rough country giant trying to attract the attentions of a refined princess. At other moments, the organ imposes itself upon the orchestra, only to come together with it at other times, before proceeding to turn everything upside down once again.
- This new recording presents three major works for organ and orchestra by Bossi, Jongen and Poulenc.
- Marco Enrico Bossi (1861-1925) was a composer of great personality whose thoroughly international outlook distinguished him from most of his Italian colleagues of his time. He was greatly admired by Verdi and Puccini, and as a concert organist and composer he was considered one of the foremost virtuosos of the period, along with his friends César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns. His composition style is based on the abstract and “absolute” aesthetics of Hanslick and Brahms, concentrating on purely instrumental music, unlike most of his contemporaries, who wrote dramatic or programmatic music.
- Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) was a Belgian organist, composer and music teacher. He was a composer who is time and again measured only second to César Franck among all Belgian composers. The organ, in the piece 'Hymne', is less of a 'soloist', merging with the warm sound of the orchestra, dialoguing and blending into the colourful textures typical of Jongen's impressionistic language.
- The Organ Concerto by Francis Poulenc is one of his most popular and frequently performed works.
- Played by Tommaso Mazzoletti on the splendid Brondino Vegezzi-Bossi organ at St. Paul, protestant church in Gland, Switzerland, accompanied by the Helvetica Orchestra conducted by Eugène Carmona.
