Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony - Saint-Saens - Symphony No.3

Saint-Saëns dedicated the written form of his official third symphony to his friend Franz Liszt, who died a few weeks after the first performance in May 1886. The symphony was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London, which had previously commissioned Beethoven's Ninth and Dvorak's Seventh. For the then 50-year-old Saint-Saëns, 27 years had passed since his last symphony. He then claimed that he could not write such a work again. He succeeded because he concentrated on the piano and the organ, which he - like his friend Liszt - was a master in mastering.

The recording was produced by Grammy winner David Frost and Prof. Keith Johnson was the sound engineer in charge. As always with albums from Reference Recordings, the sound is blessed with size and transparency and conveys a fabulous combination of room atmosphere and direct sound. The show of power of the gigantic organ in the Helzberg Hall in Kansas City is only reserved for loudspeakers with the appropriate power. With Reference, you allow yourself not to cut the instrument in the lower registers and compact systems and mini-monitors are left behind.

The half-speed mastering of the 45 LP was done by Paul Stubblebine. 180g vinyl in a hinged cover.

180-gram or 200-gram compression - a question that is not that easy

For identical titles from Reference Recordings, there are covers labeled 180 g containing LPs that weigh around 200 g, and vice versa. This is due to the fact that the commissioned pressing plants QRT and RTI in the USA specify a 10 percent tolerance for weight on the one hand and then occasionally simply get the orders mixed up. In terms of sound, the pressings do not differ.

Track-list:

Symphony No.3 in C Minor, op. 78, "Organ"

Side one

1. Adagio - Allegro moderato

2. Poco adagio

Side B

3. Allegro moderato - Presto

4. Maestoso - Allegro