Saint-Saëns Coffee Concert

Described by Shostakovich himself as “festive or celebrative in spirit,” The Festive Overture begins with a brass fanfare which later reappears before the work’s coda. The concert concludes with Saint – Saëns Organ Symphony No. 3. It is popularly known as the Organ Symphony, since, unusually for a late-Romantic symphony, two of the four sections use the pipe organ. The composer inscribed it as: Symphonie No. 3 “avec orgue” (with organ).