NOSPR / Alexander Humala / Marc Coppey / Thomas Ospital by Satie, Dutilleux, Saint-Saëns, Alates (2023/2023), Dirigent Alexander Humala, NOSPR, Katowice, Poland

Three shades, three attitudes, three compositions. The Third Symphony in C minor, Op. 78, regarded as the pinnacle of his oeuvre, has been labelled the ‘Organ Symphony’. Here, however, that mighty instrument is not treated soloistically, but rather complements a texture that is redolent of chorale melodies. Resistant to all pedagogic influences was the eccentric Erik Satie. In his popular slow waltzes Gymnopédies, he created a sort of casual music that many see as a precursor of ambient. Debussy’s orchestration links Gymnopédies to that heir of impressionism Henri Dutilleux. The latter’s cello concerto Tout un monde lointain (‘A whole distant world’) paints a space filled with mysterious colours and oneiric visions. Each of the five movements carries a quotation from Charles Baudelaire’s Les fleurs du mal.