This Brilliant box assembles well-known analogue legacy projects
from EMI and Vox. You could and may well already have had some
or all of these three elements (symphonies, violin concertos
and piano concertos) in the form of various EMI twofer and VoxBox
formats. In any event, for the newcomer this is a pretty attractive
bargain-basement way of familiarising yourself with Saint-Saëns
in each of these three genres. You have to settle for analogue
recordings from the 1970s - the de Froment material may be from
a decade earlier - but the sound quality is very good and does
no disservice to the music. If you have discovered Saint-Saëns
through the Babe soundtrack or Danse Macabre or
Carnaval des Animaux or you know of him through the Third
Violin Concerto or the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso
or as a Rubinstein fan through the classic Second Piano Concerto
then look no further. As with any massed boxed set you can buy
better versions of some of these works but as a collection that
will encourage exploration this is a risk worth taking.
Where Brilliant surprise us is in using the Tacchino set to
represent the piano concertos. True they already had this as
a separate item in their catalogue but with the other two EMI
elements you might have expected either the connoisseurs’
Jeanne-Marie Darré version of the five (EMI France 1955-57,
7243 5 89470 2 3) or the contemporaneous and long-lived Ciccolini
set (7243 5 69582 3) or the even later Collard (EMI 7243 5 73356
2 1). And that’s restricting oneself to EMI and not looking
to Decca-Universal. Whether this was a free and commercially-driven
choice by Brilliant or forced on them by the need to secure
a licensing deal this mix-and-match approach is not unique in
the Dutch label’s lists. For example the Chandos-originated
Polyansky Glazunov symphonies were supplemented by a disc based
on licensed material from Bis and Sanctuary-ASV.
The un-numbered Symphony in A major has a Jovian splendour linking
to Mozart's last symphony. In the third movement there is an
effervescent spirit derived from a love for Beethoven's Pastoral
and late Haydn. The downy finale suggests a Mendelssohnian fairy
kingdom. The numbered First Symphony bears the opus no. 2. There's
a folksy, wheezing, mirliton Marche-scherzo and a surprisingly
emotional Adagio sounding at first surprisingly like a Miaskovsky
symphonic pastoral. The allegro maestoso is indeed majestic,
suggestive of the shakos and sabre-taches of the Imperial Cavalry.
The Second Symphony is also in four movements. This time the
first movement is melodramatic as if scene-setting for one of
Weber's supernatural operas. He plays games with a fugue that
is sent scurrying across the orchestra and stereo image. Saint-Saëns
sets out to entertain and without shaking the roots of heaven
does this in music that plays between the poles of Berlioz and
even numbered Beethoven.
The second disc includes the famous Organ Symphony and the un-numbered
Urbs Roma. The latter suggests an undigested esteem for
Schumann and his Rhenish symphony. It is smoothly expressed
and pictorial yet - like the other three - it is without much
of a distinctive hook. Breaking the mould, Saint-Saëns'
Third Symphony is in two lanky movements. It’s a work
of considerable originality and carefully constructed tensions,
the melodic invention is of the most exalted and each musical
effect is superbly weighed and calculated. Martinon gives a
grand performance that balances tension and grandeur although
I wonder if someone accidentally jogged a tambourine accidentally
at 13:50 in the first of the two movements. The music thrusts
forward, sternly intrepid; what a fine work! This is a good
performance. I still love the Frémaux-CBSO
recording on CFP. This is a very special work and Martinon
makes it sing.
Saint-Saëns is a master of tune-spinning and of the orchestral
palette. These violin and orchestra works offer fragrant writing
in the line of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and Octet and
the violin concertos by Bruch (No. 1), Glazunov and Karłowicz
. These works are sugared rather than salted, honey-roast rather
than Bombay-mix, charm-woven rather than vehicles for great
angst or profundity; no harm in any of that.
The familiar works are the Third Concerto, Havanaise
and the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. When I say
'familiar' I mean familiar on disc. When did you last hear any
of these in concert? The Third is well enough known not to need
much commentary. After a scorching performance it is a mark
of attention to aesthetic detail that a very long gap is left
before we breathe the sultry Cuban air in Havanaise -
also superbly recorded by both Grumiaux and Kogan. Hispanic
atmosphere and sensitive attention to dynamic contrasting by
Dervaux and Hoelscher as well as an all-conquering pride and
impulsive dash make you realise that the Caprice Andalou
deserves to be just as well known as the Introduction and
Rondo Capriccioso and the Havanaise. Quickfire playing
and romantic themes are boldly despatched. The Prélude
from La Déluge with its grave steady fugal character
is a work of devotional atmosphere as befits the overture to
the composer's 1875 oratorio.
Listen to the eager acceleration of Hoelscher in the finale
of the Griegian First Concerto which, but for its name and three
movements, could easily have passed for one of the nine short
genre pieces which fill out the two discs around the core of
the three concertos. It’s a short work (almost 12 minutes)
of shivering Beethovenian fire - full of incident and invention.
Bruch's First Concerto is a model (conscious or unconscious)
for these concertos. Bruch also wrote three but it was his first
that held the high ground while his other two languished. In
the case of Saint-Säens the Third has found a place in
record catalogues while the other two have had to struggle against
the odds. The Second Concerto has an Ossian-inflected andante
espressivo with harp figures lending depth to a sentimentality
teetering close to Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. This makes
way for a dashing Polacca scherzando with sideways glances
towards Beethoven's 'dance apotheosis' - Seventh Symphony.
La Muse et le poète is a sober double concerto
in which Ralph Kirshbaum's cello cuts a deeper path than the
violin. This is soulful, not in the manner of Bruch's Kol
Nidrei, but rather like the Beethoven Violin Concerto yet
with a Tchaikovskian honeyed nostalgia. The explosive little
Valse-Caprice is as arranged by Ysaÿe. The two Romances
are just that: well rounded, not impulsive, musing and touching
though lacking a strong profile.
There is no competition although the shorter works have been
gathered onto a much more recent French EMI collections with
Plasson and Dumay which I have not heard. Both Hyperion and
Claves have offered single CDs of the three concertos but Hoelscher
has deep reserves of virtuosity and reflective fibre and a generous
way with their expression. You are unlikely to want to wander
far from this set which still sounds very good if inevitably
slender-toned by comparison with today's very best.
The Piano Concertos have been out of the spotlight for years
but many pianists have favoured one above the others. Rubinstein's
way with the Second is well known and loved. These Luxembourg
readings are a bit shrill though Tacchino's closely recorded
even obvious piano sounds fine in these poetic and playful pieces.
In fact the second concerto sounds pretty good - try the skip
and pearlescent glint of the allegro scherzando. The
middle range of the piano sounds rather muddy in the finale
of the Fourth Concerto. These are serviceable recordings in
middling quality analogue. Quite pleasing and at the service
of the music but neither outstanding as interpretations or as
audio. One discovery though: The Egyptian is delightful
and makes a nice foil to the Africa Fantasy with its
strong Moroccan flavour emerging around 6:10. It ties also with
Saint-Saens’ Algerian Suite.
The wallet box houses the booklet - only in Dutch - and a stiff
card sleeve for each disc with each card carrying the discographic
details on the reverse.
Much pleasure is to be derived from these inexpensive discs.
Rob Barnett
Details
CD 1 [79:04]
Symphony in A Major (1850) [25:05]
Symphony No. 1 in E flat major Op.2 (1855) [30:40]
Symphony No. 2 in A minor Op. 55 (1878) [22:42]
CD 2 [77:12]
Symphony in F major "Urbs Roma" (1856) [40:37]
Symphony No. 3 in C minor Op. 78 "Organ Symphony" (1886) [36:15]
CD 3 [76:09]
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A major Op. 20 (1859) [11:43]
Violin Concerto No. 2 in C major Op. 58 (1879-80) [37:18]
La Muse et le poète, for violin, cello and orchestra
Op. 132 (1910) [15:32]
Valse-caprice (1877) [7:10]
Romance for violin & orchestra in C major Op. 48 (1871)
[6:48]
Romance for violin & orchestra in D flat major Op. 37 (1874)
[5:53]
CD 4 [73:29]
Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor Op. 61 (1879-80) [27:37]
Havanaise, in E major Op. 83 (1887) [9:40]
Morceau de concert, in G major Op. 62 (1880) [9:39]
Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, in A minor Op. 28 (1887)
[8:56]
Caprice andalou, in G major Op. 122 (1904) [9:19]
Prélude du "Déluge", in D major Op. 45 [7:24]
CD 5 [77:00]
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major Op. 17 (1858) [26:47]
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 22 (1868) [29:09]
Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor Op. 44 (1875) [26:46]
CD 6 [66:55]
Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat major Op. 29 (1869) [28:39]
Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major Op. 103 "Egyptian" (1895) [27:53]
Africa, Fantasy for piano & orchestra Op. 89 (1889-90)
[11:02]
Comparative reviews on MusicWeb International
Piano concertos - EMI box
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Apr02/Saent-Saens_concertos.htm
Violin concertos - EMI box
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classRev/2003/Oct03/saint_saens_hoelscher.htm
Ulf Hoelscher (violin) Gabriel Tacchino (piano) Ralph Kirshbaum
(cello) Bernard Gavoty (organ of the church Saint-Louis des Invalides)
