Poulenc: Organ Concerto - Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "Organ"

Poulenc’s Organ Concerto is an extraordinary mixture of high drama and tongue-in-cheek music that could accompany a chase sequence, interspersed with beautiful reflective episodes. Scored for just strings and timpani accompaniment, it nevertheless packs a dramatic and emotional punch. By contrast, Saint-Saëns’s 'Organ' Symphony uses the instrument as just a part of a full orchestral palette in a work of mouthwatering clarity and narrative depth. Marcel Proust proclaimed it 'the most beautiful of symphonies since Beethoven’s'.