It is not often that the name of an organist causes a nationwide sensation. But when, in 2023, the outstanding young virtuoso, improviser, composer and winner of numerous competitions Karol Mossakowski took up the post of titular organist at the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, he made quite a name for himself. In order to fully appreciate this news, one should bear in mind how important organ music has been for the French for centuries. César Franck, Olivier Messiaen and Marcel Dupré have all been organists of major churches in Paris, and Dupré sat at the same instrument as Mossakowski does today.
Dupré’s Cortège et Litanie was originally a piece of incidental piano music for the stage, which in time was reworked for symphonic forces. Written for the inauguration of the organ at the Philadelphia Academy of Music, meanwhile, was Samuel Barber’s showstopping Toccata Festiva – a phenomenal duel for orchestra and organ with a complex solo in the pedal part.
In addition to the Larghetto for orchestra by one of today’s leading British composers, James MacMillan, our programme will also include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3 in D major. The Polonaise that concludes this work, with its unusual formal structure, helped to earn the symphony – somewhat exaggeratedly – the nickname ‘Polish’.
