The Concerto for Organ, Tympani and Strings debuted in the late 1930s, and was, oddly enough, Poulenc’s first composition for the organ – a kind of “learn-on-the-job” experience. The result, Svendsen tells BarrieToday, is a highly complicated piece which keeps her on her toes.
“For example, in the middle, there is a section in which the organ and orchestra trade these really fast melodic figures. Like any concerto, the piece is designed to showcase the soloist and so there are lots of places for me to stretch out and have some fun.”
Svendsen preps the audience for quite the musical journey.
“The listener can hear prominently the sections change between loudly free and quietly metered - similar to the terraced dynamics in baroque music. That being said, the lushness of the 20th century school is still very much present.”
Sarah also says this was a turning point for Poulenc, the style pointing in the direction of his 1957 opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites. No less importantly, Francis found religion while putting together the Concerto.
Recently, Svendsen had the awesome task of playing the Apocalypsis of R. Murray Schafer, as an ensemble of 1,000 vocalists and musicians, on a live on the CBC, under the baton of the renowned David Fallis.
“It was big!” says Sarah, “I had to play the organ part from full-score, which was this gorgeous piece of music more akin to a graphic novel than traditional music notation. One of the biggest challenges was logistics. The whole piece ran on synchronized clocks, and, with that many musicians, there were sub-conductors who were in charge of each participating ensemble.
“Because the organ was a separate entity from these ensembles, I followed David Fallis through a television monitor just off of stage right. (Fallis cued me) when he would look in the camera directly and make the letter 'O' with his fingers; whatever followed was meant for me! The full-score provided me with a certain level of independence to allow me to know what was going on and be there for my cue before David gave it.
“In general, this was an amazing experience, and I had a wonderful time.”
Svendsen counts herself separate from perhaps other classical devotees in that she celebrates works by more recent composers, particularly ones closer to home.
“My experiences in the Canadian organ and choral scenes suggest that we have some amazing compositions by current composers that are getting lots of performance time. I’d like to encourage artistic directors to encourage Canadian content in programming, to help further support and develop our country’s classical music scene.”
And next season for Sarah looks so bright she’ll have to wear shades!
“I am booked to be the Royal Canadian College of Organists Travelling Clinician, which means that I travel to different places around the country… Vancouver, Saskatoon, Grey Bruce, Kingston, Charlottetown, and Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia.
“Also, my Organized Crime Duo is going on tour in June 2019 and we will be playing the National RCCO Festival in
The Huronia Symphony, under conductor Oliver Balaburski, pulls out all the stops, Sunday, May 13 at 3:30 p.m., at
