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The Splendour of Organ

hands playing an organLet the power of the Auckland Town Hall organ blow you away. David Briggs, a former Organ Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, plays Francis Poulenc’s darkly Gothic – but very French – concerto for the King of Instruments.

Igor Stravinsky’s reworking of 18th century music is as clear as a diamond. Written for the Ballets Russes, this is old music given a brilliant new twist.

It took Johannes Brahms 20 years before he was satisfied with his mighty first symphony. It was worth the wait. Beginning in the soul’s torment, the symphony finishes in exultant glory.

Pulcinella was my discovery of the past, the epiphany through which the whole of my late work became possible.

– Stravinsky
Text: APO website

David Briggs (org), Auckland Philharmonia/Eckehard Stier

STRAVINSKY: Pulcinella Suite; POULENC: Concerto for organ, strings & timpani

(Interval)

BRAHMS: Symphony No 1 in C minor Op 68

Broadcast direct from the Auckland Town Hall, by Radio New Zealand