Saint-Saëns’ Third Symphony is a sumptuous and powerful model of a Romantic symphony.
He transforms and deftly weaves his musical ideas until – literally pulling out the stops – that earworm of a final tune (Babe!) thunders into the hall. Saint-Saëns’ friends called his Third the ‘symphony with organ’, and this concert offers a rare chance to hear the Sydney Opera House organ – the largest mechanical action organ in the world – take the spotlight.
Shostakovich wrote his First Cello Concerto for Rostropovich. It’s obsessive music that veers between radiant lyricism and undercurrents of bleakness. Korean cellist Han- Na Chang made her Sydney Symphony debut with Lorin Maazel in 2000 – just a teenager but already possessing a prodigious technique. A former student of Rostropovich himself, she now returns to bring new maturity and authenticity to this demanding music.
SHOSTAKOVICH Cello Concerto No.1
SAINT -SAËNS Symphony No.3 (Organ)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
Han-Na Chang cello
Pre-concert talk in the Northern Foyer by Natalie Shea, 45 minutes before each performance.