Symphony No. 3 in C minor 'Organ Symphony', Op. 78

Commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London and premiered there in 1886, the Organ Symphony is Saint-Saëns's orchestral masterpiece. Its two large movements, each subdivided, culminate in a blazing C major apotheosis in which the full organ and orchestra unite in one of the most overwhelming passages in the Romantic repertoire. Saint-Saëns described it as the work in which he had given everything he was able to give. The piano parts, written for four hands, add further richness to the luminous orchestration.