Last night we had the pleasure of attending the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra at the Long Beach Center for the Performing Arts. We had been given tickets by a friend of Paula’s. What a pleasure. We had seats in 3rd row of the orchestra section.
The performance consisted of pieces by French composers. The symphony was directed by Eckert Preu. Mr. Preu appeared about an hour before the concert (I’m told that he usually does this) to talk about the music.
The performance consisted of:
- Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy
- Intermezzo from Notre Dame by Franz Schmidt
- La Chausseur maudit by Cesar Fanck
Intermission, then
- Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op. 78 (Organ Symphony) by Camille Saint-Saens
So the opening piece was quite light and airy. It kind of gets you comfortable in your seat before the heavy hitters come along.
“Le Chausseeur maudit” means “the Accursed Hunter”. It takes you along on the adventure of a wild hunter in the woods. The story begins about a hunter who would rather hunt on a Sunday morning than sit in the pews in a church.
The four sections of the work are:
- Peaceful Sunday Landscape
- The Hunt
- The Curse
- The Demon’s Chase
Then we had the intermission where we get to calm our nerves over a glass of wine. Then he started on Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony. So called because the fourth and last movement has a pipe organ added to the mix. I told Paula to expect that the theme will be rattling around in your brain. The finale was strong and loud. I wanted to shout out, “Crank it up”. Indeed, Paula told me that she had the theme rattling around in her head.
And finally, I have included an organ recital of the last movement of the Organ Symphony. Play it on a speaker and crank up the volume. Enjoy.
calherewecome 