Peter Maag does not seem to make very many records, but when they arrive they seldom disappoint. One remembers an early Decca LP of Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony and more recently a CD of the Italian Symphony for Pickwick which EG welcomed warmly (PCD824, 6/86). This latest version of Saint-Saens's deservedly popular Organ Symphony does not let his reputation down. It has a Mendelssohnian freshness, and in the scherzo, which is a deligh, the sprightly playing and clean articulation draws a distinct parallel with that composer. The first movement, too, has a nice rhythmic lift and the responsive playing of the Berne strings add to the listener's pleasure. The Poco adagio is essentially elegiac in feeling, which does not preclude an eloquent climax, though the effect is more restrained than the warm romanticism which Batiz creates on ASV. But no one could complain that the organ entry in the finale is not arresting, and then immediately afterwards the ear delights at the rippling delicacy of the piano figurations (the digital recording is admirably clear) before Chorzempa boldly introduces his famous tune. At the close Maag knits the threads of the music together convincingly and satisfying and one realizes how well he has though out the work's overall structure.
The recording is bright, full and quite resonant without being as rich as the ASV disc or as brilliantly balanced as the Decca for Dutoit. But at its low price this is an undoubted bargain. Incidentally, the ASV version, which I still count overall first CD choice, has been remastered and the edginess which afflicted the first batch of CDs has been smoothed away. Now the sound is spectacularly ample with the organ almost overwhelmingly resonant in the coda.'