Taken from a Radio France Broadcast in November 2013, this showcases the recently restored organ in the Auditorium de Lyon. Built originally for the Palais de Trocadéro in Paris in 1878, and relocated to its current home in 1977, it’s a famous instrument that inspired a number of composers. Saint-Saëns wrote Cyprès et Lauriers, for organ and orchestra, with it in mind in 1919 – though, in the event, the premiere was given not in Paris but Ostend. Commemorating the Allied victory in the first world war in terms that some might find excessively triumphalist, it’s formidably played here by Vincent Warnier, with the ONL on fine form for Leonard Slatkin. The rest of the disc covers more familiar territory. Danse Macabre comes in an organ transcription by Edwin Lemare that nicely displays Warnier’s virtuosity. Slatkin’s interpretation of the “Organ” Symphony is measured and focused, but not nearly as exciting as Christoph Eschenbach’s Philadelphia version, still the best available.
