Poulenc: Concerto in G minor for Organ, Strings & Timpani

“Powerful performance, especially of the Organ Concerto. Vivid recording, fine contributions from the Radio France Choir, and muscular conducting from Charles Dutoit.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 ****

“this is such an outstanding and breathtaking performance that many will feel the work can never sound so good again. Heini is a true virtuoso for whom Rutti's exacting demands seem second nature...Rutti's Concerto is clearly a cut above the rest, not least, I would dare to suggest, the Poulenc with which it shares both orchestration and this disc.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2012

“This set usefully collects Poulenc's concertante works and throws in Les biches and the Litanies à la Vierge noire for good measure. Richly characterful accounts, though far from blemish-free.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2009 ***

“The sheer élan and authority of this performance [of the Organ Concerto] sweeps all before it and the sense of occasion is palpable. Space is of the essence here in that the music can breathe naturally and [Prêtre] captures the ebb and flow of the sectionally constructed score as to the manner born. A hard act to follow!” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010

“The organ is heard within rather than above the orchestral fray and the urgency of the fast passages balances perfectly the sensuous calm of the quiet pages. If you want Weir this is the one to get.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010

“…it is a breathtaking achievement. There is passion, but precision, technically well-nigh faultless.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008

“Eschenbach's Poulenc is heavily romanticised, squeezing every last drop of pathos from the score and finding many moments of ravishing beauty. Latry is, for the most part, a willing accomplice – only in the swaying rhythm of the subito andante moderato do conductor and soloist seem at odds with each other – and while it is left to him to root out the music's austere and acerbic sides, he clearly relishes Eschenbach's slow tempi in reaching the work's two powerful climaxes.
This performance may miss many of Poulenc's subtleties in its single-minded striving for loveliness but the wildly enthusiastic cheering from the audience seems wholly justified given the unusual breadth of this reading.
The recording was made at the inaugural concerts of the new organ of Philadelphia's Verizon Hall, which included the almost obligatory Saint-Saëns Symphony. Properly, this is more a test of how well an organ integrates with an orchestra than a vehicle for the organ itself, and on those terms this proves to be a wholly successful performance. Eschenbach's intuitive reading casts the work in a rich perspective, the opening possessing a tangible atmosphere of menace while the second movement's Presto positively fizzes with energy.
The organ shows its stature (the booklet tells us that, with 6938 pipes, it is the largest concerthall organ in the US) with palpable depth in the first movement and majestic presence in the finale; but the real star of the show here is the Philadelphia Orchestra itself. Mouth-watering wind solos, gorgeous string-playing and a wonderfully crisp and cohesive sound (as it must be in what sounds a dreadfully dry acoustic) combine to create rather more memorable moments than we have a right to expect; the string entry just before the close of the first section is, as they say, to die for.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“From the first earth-shaking chord [of the Organ Concerto] you are firmly inside the building...Malcolm is alert to every nuance from Bachian majesty to fairground vulgarity and he paints it all with virtuoso aplomb.” Gramophone Magazine, January 2010