Camille Saint-Saëns was an accomplished organist, and his weekly improvisations were a major event. Franz Liszt himself considered him the best in the world. Dissatisfied with the absence of his instrument in symphonic music, he wrote the Organ Symphony, which gives it a central role and lends surprising density to the orchestra. This masterpiece has gone down in history, and hearing it in a concert hall is an unforgettable experience. The first part of this programme brings us Chausson’s Soir de fête, where the movement of a joyful and turbulent crowd contrasts with the calm of the silent night. Liszt’s Preludes explore poetic feelings related to love, the storms of life and nature.