Serenade for Strings

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There can be no better evidence that Francis Poulenc was the ‘half monk, half rascal’ of reputation than the composer’s wickedly disciplined Organ Concerto, a knockabout game of chase and tag for orchestra and organ that one moment plays havoc with Bach and another finds deep spirituality. Former Christ Church Oxford organist Stephen Darlington joins the Orchestra and conductor John Lubbock for Poulenc’s piquant concerto – first on the Metzler organ of the University Church, then on the mighty Walker organ of St Martin-in-the-Fields – surrounded by music of bustling charm by Mozart and a melodious serenade from Tchaikovsky that ‘poured from the heart’ of the composer.