Klassik Highlights

Symphony concert by the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra in the Liederhalle

BACH/STOKOWSKI | Toccata and Fugue in D minor
LISZT | "Ad nos" for organ and orchestra
TSCHAIKOWSKY | Symphony No. 5

Christian Schmitt, piano
Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Aurel Dawidiuk

ORGAN AS A CONCERT INSTRUMENT

Among the organ works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, the "Toccata and Fugue" in D minor is certainly the most popular and best known. The impressive opening of the toccata and the virtuosity of the fugue have repeatedly prompted others to make arrangements. The American conductor Leopold Stokowski transferred the sublime sound of the church instrument to the possibilities of the large symphony orchestra. The powerful effect of this arrangement can be heard, for example, in Walt Disney's animated film "Fantasia". Christian Schmidt's concert version fuses the original organ version and Stokowski's orchestration.

Franz Liszt's Fantasia and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam" was composed in Weimar in 1850. Liszt was paying homage to his colleague Giacomo Meyerbeer. The melody of the chorale does not come from a church context, but from Meyerbeer's opera "Le Prophète", which Liszt particularly loved.

Peter I. Tchaikovsky wanted to write a great symphony of destiny with his Fifth. Beforehand, he had great doubts as to whether he would be able to compose at all. And even when he had finished the symphony, he was still not satisfied with it: "Lately I've been constantly haunted by the thought that I've written myself out, that my head is empty, that it's time to stop, etc." Only a stay in Hamburg in 1889, where he met Johannes Brahms, made him optimistic: "That Brahms stayed an extra day especially for the symphony, was present during the entire rehearsal and found the symphony (not in all parts, by the way) very good [...]. The most pleasant thing is that the symphony has stopped seeming ugly to me; I have grown to love it again."