Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Music for Piano Duo & Duet - Volume 1
Tarantelle in A minor for flute, clarinet & piano Op 6 arr. for two pianos [6:23]
Duettino, original work for piano 4 hands in G major, Op 11 [8:06]
Le Rouet d'Omphale, symphonic poem Op 31 arr. for two pianos [8:14]
König Harald Harfagar, Op 59 original work for piano 4 hands [5:03]
Septet in E flat major Op 65, arr. for two pianos [6:36]
Polonaise, Op 77 original work for two pianos [10:34]
Feuillet d’album in B flat major Op 81 original work for piano 4 hands [3:18]
Berceuse, Op 105 [2:42]
Scherzo Op 87 original work for two pianos [10:11]
Pas redoublé en si bémol majeur, Op 86 [4:2
Martin Jones, Adrian Farmer (pianos)
rec. 14-15 May 2015 & 1-2 October 2015, Wyastone Leys, UK
NIMBUS NI5940 [65:35]
Saint-Saëns was a fine pianist and produced a lot of piano music, not least five concertos and many short solo pieces. Here is one of the byways of that output, a disc of both original compositions and arrangements for piano duo and duet. This first of two volumes opens with a piquant Tarantelle arranged for two pianos, first heard anonymously at Rossini’s famous Parisian salon, when its quality led to the assumption it was written by the host. Not all this music escapes the atmosphere of the salon it must be said, for domestic qualities dominate over those associated with the concert hall. Roger Nichols’s booklet note places the two-movement Duettino in that category, which “aims at young girls” and their “traditional occupation of the piano stool after dinner”. Which does not mean it is short on charm, and the same could be said of the light entertainment of the Feuillet d’album, which nonetheless offers skilful contrapuntal writing in its middle section.
But some works here have more substance. A keen follower of Liszt (the admiration was mutual), Saint-Saëns produced a series of symphonic poems on Liszt’s model, of which the first was Le Rouet d'Omphale. This tale of Hercules features a spinning wheel, the rhythmical rotation of which can be heard from the outset but which also generates some of the attractive melodic material of this work. (If you want to hear the composer’s two piano arrangement of his best known symphonic poem, Danse macabre, that can be found on Nimbus’s second volume). König Harald Harfagar, (King Harold Fairhair) is a tale of the monarch who first united Norway, and another more serious endeavour, this time an original work for the piano 4 hands medium. But the craftsmanship in all these pieces would make it difficult to know which are arrangements and which originals without consulting the programme listing.
Most valuably the disc includes two slightly longer (ten minutes plus) original two piano works; the Scherzo, Op 87 and the Polonaise, Op 77. The former has a most unexpected opening, recalling Debussy (whose works were not favourites of Saint-Saëns) and the piece as a whole is rather wayward, almost unsettling. Roger Nichols’s note even suggests this could have been caused by a recent bout of depression following the loss of his mother. But it also haunting in its way. In the Polonaise, Saint-Saëns seems to have found his inner Slav, with writing that almost matches the examples of Chopin or even Tchaikovsky’s Polonaise in Eugene Onegin. This is the piece I shall return to most often.
Nimbus regulars Martin Jones (piano) and Adrian Farmer (piano) are expert and adroit players, but also highly sympathetic to the medium, whether at two keyboards or one. They treat each piece on its merits, and always sound spontaneous. With the very last item, the Pas redoublé arranged from a military band original, the duettists set off at a very quick march (“at the double” indeed) and sound as if they are having a great deal of sheer fun – not a quality that is unwelcome in such repertoire of course. The recorded sound is good, avoiding any of the clatter than can occur when two modern pianos are both required to play loudly.
Roy Westbrook
Previous review: Jonathan Welsh
