Classical Music Sentinel composer Jean-Yves Duperron offers advice for how to challenge the top Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 recordings and says Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony have it “down and then some.”
“I’ve never heard such a well-rounded account of this impressive symphonic work. Under Michael Stern’s direction, the slow movement glows with expressive touches and the final movement blows everyone else out of the water. The impressive Casavant pipe organ which has 4 keyboards, 79 stops, 102 ranks, tracker action, and 5,548 pipes, the biggest of which weighs 960 pounds, certainly produces a hair-raising sound when it opens the final movement. Unsuspecting listeners beware: crank up the volume but brace yourself for a jolt. The only way to truly enjoy recordings like this one is to play them loud – the way a full orchestra and hefty pipe organ are meant to sound. … Glorious music making reproduced with stupendous fidelity!” —Jean-Yves Duperron, Classical Music Sentinel