Symphonie Concertante - New York Times review

We wanted to share this review and write-up of the performance that is found on our new release "A Grand Celebration: The Philadelphia Orchestra live with the Wanamaker Organ":

Amid Shoes and Jewels, a Mighty, Mighty Sound
By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
Published: September 28, 2008

PHILADELPHIA — The organist Virgil Fox once compared playing the Wanamaker organ, said to be the largest playable instrument in the world, to being a child in a toy store. “You have to have many arms, many hands and many brains,” he said.

The Wanamaker’s golden pipes cascade across a second-floor wall of the ornate Grand Court of Macy’s Center City here, hovering like a giant wingspan above a first-floor statue of an eagle. On Saturday, with an audience tucked between displays of shoes and jewelry, Rossen Milanov conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra and the organist Peter Richard Conte in Joseph Jongen’s “Symphonie Concertante,” a performance postponed for 80 years.

The concert was presented by Macy’s and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, which has a repair shop in the building...Click to continue reading this review

The Organ Loft - The Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra

On Friday we told you about Roger Sherman's radio program The Organ Loft. And in case you missed its airing yesterday, we thought we would give you a short taste of what you missed. Sunday night's program was titled "The Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra." The sample you are about to listen to, comes from the first segment of the show, and features the music of Joseph Jongen and his "Symphonie concertante, Op 81."

Please click the "play" button to listen to a sample from "The Organ Loft — The Wanamaker Organ and the Philadelphia Orchestra"

January Releases - Part 1

A Grand Celebration

The Philadelphia Orchestra live with The Wanamaker Organ at Macy’s City Center
Rossen Milanov, Conductor
Peter Richard Conte, Grand Court Organist

After a wait of over eighty years, the vast tonal palette of The Philadelphia Orchestra is joined, once more, with the world’s greatest symphonic pipe organ for this historic concert! Recorded live, September 27, 2008.