I search for suitable music to inspire me to write today. I pull out all the stops, scroll through several playlists and stumble across Spotify’s Classical Summer compilation.
Promises of selections by composers include three well-knowns –
- Beethoven, (not my favourite composer – too ‘heavy’)
- Bach (‘lovely and light’) and
- Chopin (likeable)
…. make for restful listening.
Although, depending on who I listen to, symphonic music is not always an easy listen. Like Beethoven. I find his music heavy and downright sleep-inducing. I hope I’ve chosen wisely.
A pause in pulling out all the stops
I pick up a novel I finished recently. Winner of the Women’s Prize, The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller is a well-paced read I found difficult to put down. I flick it open, ready to write a review.
Inside the cover I find two tickets I used as book marks. One took me on a tour of the Sydney Opera House and the second, to Saint-Saen’s Organ Symphony the same night.
My review is deferred
I learn a great deal about the Sydney Opera House on my tour. I discover –
- It was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon. Something I knew, but had forgotten.
- It took fourteen years to build. Also knew this, but also forgotten.
- Building commenced in 1959, four years after I was born and was officially opened the year after I commenced university, in 1973. I recall Her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II visiting for the official opening.
- In 2023 it was 50 years old. I am clearly much older.
- Costs began at $7million and blew out to $102 million dollars! The purchase of lotto tickets helped subsidize the build. I didn’t I contributed. I live in WA, capital – Perth. It was a State Lottery.
- Utzon, the original architect never saw the finished building. He got ticked off over the numerous changes to the original plans and quit in 1966.
- And – the point of this piece of writing – it houses the largest mechanical tracker organ in the world. You can read about it being the largest in the world, how it is played and who has the privilege of playing it, here and here.
- When I see the organ I liken it to the WA Goldfields Pipeline! Meaning, the pipes are HUGE!
And that organ is, according to my brilliant and information packed tour guide, only played around 4 times a year. I think he means for 4 different ticketed ‘shows’.
What? Only 4 times!
I cannot resist the opportunity to experience one of those occasions.
Over lunch, part of my ticketed tour, I search for online tickets. I can’t decide on a seat. I know it’s not supposed to matter where you sit in the concert hall. Every detail is acoustically optimized.
Recently refurbished within an inch of its life around 2020, it took two years to complete. The original acoustics were short changed (ie not enough money) and hence, of poor quality, apparently. Today it boasts –
- massive speakers
- carefully designed wooden panelling around the walls that are acoustically friendly
- pink, vaulted tile-shaped shells that hang from the ceiling
- and other features listed here.
The concert pulls out all the stops
I am blown away – moved to tears – by the sheer beauty of the rendition of St Saen’s Symphony. The organist, Olivier Latry, is given latitude to play above – or more loudly – than other instruments. He pulls out all the stops in a brilliant performance.
The term ‘pull out all stops’ originated with the pipe organ. When a player pulls the organ’s stops out, more air flows through the pipes and the volume increases. Pulling out all the stops results in extremely loud, energetic music. In every day use, the the phrase also means to use all resources available to achieve an outcome.
Typical concert chats with co-fans sitting next to me reveal at least one attends this symphony any time he can – to date that’s 5, or 6 times! Clearly he’s pulling out all the stops to listen to a favourite!
Who was he?
Saint-Saen was a musical prodigy, rivalling his contemporary, Mozart, and liked Bach, according to some background reading here. Even though the critique is offered by a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mozart remains my favourite.
It both amazes and amuses me that Saint-Saen’s contemporaries like Schumann, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi – are names I am familiar with. In my early childhood I learnt some of their pieces on my grandmother’s piano. (You can read about my childhood piano here.) But I didn’t play around on the organ long enough to move past church hymns.
Where to from here?
My serendipitous choice of Classical Summer music makes me smile. It reflects the very composers Saint-Saen’s talent is compared with and the contemporary he enjoyed. How could that be? I had no idea about this composer, famous for his organ symphony, until that Friday night concert in the Opera House. Nor of his history, until I read about him (of course!).
I add a previously unknown composer (to me) to my repertoire of incredibles and listen, once again to a rendition I find on You tube of the Symphony in C: Organ – the whole symphony, here and of the Finale alone, here.
Have you been to the Opera House? Or have you discovered a piece of music or composer in an unexpected moment that brings joy? Please let me know below or by clicking the link here and scrolling to the end of the post.
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