For Francis Poulenc, the organ was an instrument that made it possible to create completely new worlds of sound. His Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani brought audiences to their feet right from its premiere in 1939: a powerful and bombastic work that nonetheless breathes with delicacy. The British organ virtuoso Wayne Marshall stages it alongside «Cortège et Litanie», one of the most popular works by Poulenc-contemporary Marcel Dupré. The Tonkunstler Orchestra devotes the second half, led by Wayne Marshall, to the composer Franz Schmidt. The Symphony No. 2 by the Viennese late Romantic was premiered two years after the death of Gustav Mahler and combines classical form with modern tonality.