Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Saint-Saëns Edition
rec. 1904-2020
Mono/stereo
WARNER CLASSICS 9029674604 [34 CDs: 36 hours]
Sony and Warner, in particular, are involved in wholesale boxing of their back catalogue. Sometimes this is accompanied by root and branch remastering, where the results can be remarkable – think of Sony’s Ormandy monos, for instance – though at other times there is a strangely conflicted aesthetic at work. It’s the latter that predominates in this 34-CD box though I should add that I am otherwise almost wholly seduced by the programming principles and curating – hate the word, let’s use it anyway – of this release. There are, to be clear, very, very few examples of remastering by the Warner go-to engineer Christophe Hénault of Art & Son Studio, Annecy. I’ll note them when they occur but I can anticipate that Dr Len Mullenger of this parish would not be content with this meagre approach to remastering.
The recordings range in date from the composer’s own Paris piano session of 1904 to a very recent 2020 release. There’s a focus, certainly not exclusive, but noticeable, on French performances. In a sense this is obvious. Warner and its prior labels – HMV, Erato – had discographic strength in Saint-Saëns’ music and it would be self-defeating to omit Martinon’s symphonic cycle, or Jean-Philippe Collard’s piano concerto set. When it comes to the riches of older recordings, you’re hardly going to pass over Jeanne-Marie Darré’s concerto cycle either, one that offers a compare-and-contrast opportunity in everything but sonics with Collard’s.
I am going to take things on a disc-by-disc basis. The CDs are divided into Orchestral Works, Concertante Music, Chamber Music, Instrumental Music, Piano Works (four hands and two piano), Organ Works, Vocal and Choral Music, Opera, Transcriptions and Arrangements and eight discs of Historical Recordings.
The first two discs are devoted to the Martinon-directed symphonies which were last reviewed on this site on an EMI twofer (review) and as part of a Brilliant box devoted to the composer (review). They are obviously indispensable. CD 3 offers a bipartite coupling. Michel Plasson and his Toulouse forces generate a characterful La Foi whilst Pierre Dervaux’s quartet of pieces - Danse macabre, La jeunesse d'Hercule, Phaéton, and Le Rouet d'Omphale - date from 1971 and are impressively idiomatic.
The Carnival of the Animals with John Ogdon and Brenda Lucas and the City of Birmingham Symphony directed by Louis Frémaux (CD 4) was once on a Classics for Pleasure CD (review). On CD 16 there’s another version of the work, spearheaded - if that’s the mot juste – by Michel Béroff and Jean-Philippe Collard and elite colleagues, who include those splendid players of Le Trio à cordes Français, Gérard Jarry, Serge Collot and Michel Tournus. Turn to CD 25 and you get another Carnival, this time with additional songs from Hiawyn Oram and Carl Davis – who conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. The King’s Singers do their vocal thing on this one which falls very properly under the rubric ‘Transcriptions and Arrangement’.
The piano concerto set on CDs 5 and 6 is in the safest of hands; Jean-Philippe Collard and André Previn. Naturally Warner utilises the set last reissued as part of the Previn box (review). CDs 7 and 8 contain music for violin and orchestra, in the main, sourced from the 1977 recordings made by Ulf Hoelscher and the New Philharmonia Orchestra under Pierre Dervaux (review). They could have used the Hoelscher-Kirschbaum recording of La Muse et le Poète but have opted for a newer version; Renaud and Gautier Capuçon with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Lionel Bringuier. CD 9 offers concertante music, with small-scale romances and morceaux for various instruments – flute, horn, harp – and orchestra. Jean-Jacques Kantorow is the conductor in these 1993-95 sessions. CD 10 ends the concertante offering with Rostropovich and Giulini’s 1977 recording of the First Cello Concerto (review) and Tortelier’s Allegro Appassionato in B minor with Frémaux, which could be found on the Classics for Pleasure release noted above. The Frémaux-directed Birmingham recordings are also in the Warner ‘Icon’ box devoted to the conductor (review). There’s no Second Cello Concerto in this box.
The First Violin Sonata is also in CD 10 (review) played by Renaud Capuçon and Bertrand Chamayou and this is, I think, the most recent of the discs to be included in the box, recorded in July 2020. The Second Sonata however is played by Olivier Charlier and Jean Hubeau which was issued on Warner’s Apex line around 17 years ago (review). This duo also plays the small pieces that are housed in CD 11, which were also included in the Apex release. Warner has decided not to include Renaud Capuçon and Bertrand Chamayou’s recording of the First Cello Sonata, which was included alongside the First Violin Sonata very recently. Instead, we have Roland Pidoux and Jean Hubeau in a 1991 recording, as we do in the Second Sonata.
That latter recording comes in CD 12 a raft of first-class chamber players performing sonatas including Sabine Meyer and Oleg Maisenberg in the Clarinet Sonata (review). CD 13 includes the Piano Trio No 1 in a recording by Yan and Paul Tortelier and Maria de la Pau made in 1978 (review as part of EMI’s big 20-CD Tortelier box) and the very recent Piano Trio No 2 (Renaud Capuçon, Edgar Moreau, Bertrand Chamayou – see review). The String Quartets, played by the Viotti Quartet, were also contained in the Apex release (review)
Disc 15 includes two recordings that may have escaped your notice. The first is the Piano Quartet, Op 41 played by the Kandinsky Quartet – pianist Claire Désert, violinist Philippe Aïche, violist Nicolas Bône and cellist Nadine Pierre. This was recorded in 1993. The Piano Quintet, Op 14 is a much older recording made in Salle Wagram in 1970 by the Groupe instrumentale de Paris, whose violist was Bruno Pasquier and pianist Jean Laforge. The recording is clear if just a touch too crisp but has a beautifully phrased slow movement, in particular. These two works are overlooked gems of his chamber music though I should note a one second skip at 1:57 into track 8, the finale of the Piano Quintet.
On CD 16 there is a newly remastered track, the Fantaisie for harp played by Marielle Nordmann at IRCAM in 2017. I don’t think it’s been issued before. François-René Duchâble’s magnificently accomplished 1979 recordings of the Opp 52 and 111 sets of Études have been newly remastered by Studio Art & Son, Annecy though the accompanying 1971 set of Études, Op 135 for the left hand, played by Aldo Ciccolini in 1971, has not been so fortunate.
The piano four-hands and two piano works on CD 18 are, with the exception of the Scherzo, Op 87, transcriptions made by Debussy. The Caprice on Airs from Gluck's 'Alceste' is played by Jean-François Heisser and Georges Pludermacher whilst the transcription of the Second Symphony is in the hands of Jean-Pierre Armengaud and Olivier Chauzu. All are live. The Caprice was recorded back in 1993 alongside Debussy’s transcription of the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso; the Symphony, with the ballet music from Étienne Marcel, was recorded in an ample church acoustic in 2017.
Saint-Saëns’s complete organ works are contained in CDs 19 and 20 played by Daniel Roth in the Église Saint-Salomon-Saint Grégoire, Pithiviers. He plays the Isnard (1789), Cavaillé-Coll (1890) and Boisseau (1962) organs there. These two discs, recorded back in April 1978, are appearing on CD for the first time in remasterings in 192kHz/24-bit by Studio Art & Son. The three Rhapsodies on Breton songs are especially evocative.
CD 21 has the most varied personnel which is not surprising given it contains a multitude of singers and their accompanists, ranging from Victoria de los Angeles and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who sing Pastorale together with Gerald Moore in 1960 (FD sings four other songs), to Philippe Jaroussky and Natalie Dessay. Christa Ludwig sings Un flûte invisible. José van Dam and Collard perform a strong selection. The choral music continues in CD 21 with a 1988 recording of the Messe à quatre voix, strongly sung and played by soloists with the Ensemble vocal de Lausanne directed by Michel Corboz. Marie-Claire Alain plays the principal organ role in Léon Roques’ reduction from full orchestral forces to a two-organ accompaniment. There’s no recording of the Requiem.
The operatic element starts in the same volume with three extracts from Samson et Dalila in the famous recording made by Callas and Prêtre, taken from the LP ‘Maria Callas Sings Great Arias from French Operas’. Discs 23 and 24 are taken up with the complete opera performance Prêtre gave the following year with Jon Vickers and Rita Gorr heading the cast; a wonderfully vivid performance with the Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris sounding as distinctively Gallic as its counterparts in the Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux. Ralph Moore discussed the performance in his survey of the opera.
There are two discs of weird and wonderful transcriptions and arrangements. Try Edwin Lemare’s arrangement of the Danse macabre for solo organ, played by Olivier Latry (though turn down the volume) or the more famous Leopold Godowsky Le Cygne, bravely taken on by Alexandre Tharaud, as well as a sequence played by Paul Tortelier and Maria de la Pau. Brass specialists will want to re-hear Mikhail Nakariakov’s reimagining of the Cello Concerto No.1, which he plays on the flugelhorn, the Introduction et Rondo capriccioso and Le Cygne.
The final eight discs are given over to ‘Historical Recordings’ and for the purposes of Warner’s rubric this means anything recorded during or before 1955 and thus mono. CD 27 is a Saint-Saëns-plays-Saint-Saëns disc. This includes seven piano rolls (one is actually of Chopin) heard in 1992 transfers made by James Stewart Music followed by five 78 sides of his 1904 session and the full November 1919 recordings. Personally, I think this is a mistake, and the full 1904 studio recordings should have been included – despite their tricky sound quality - and the rolls ditched. Fortunately, the recordings have been taken from Bryan Crimp’s transfers for APR. Marston has also issued these recordings with increased pitch stabilisation and for details of Saint-Saëns’s playing I include details of a review, though for illustrative purposes only, as the transfers obviously are not the same as these.
Crusty old geezers will latch on to the first track of CD 28, a well-transferred and clearly defined 1906 Zonophone of Tecum principium (Prière) played by Henry Debruyne (violin), Cornelis Liégeois (cello) and Auguste Delacroix (piano). Both Philippe Gaubert and André Cluytens excel in their orchestral pieces made in 1929 and 1931. Jacques Thibaud plays the Havanaise and Prélude to Le Deluge as only he can and Henry Merckel’s recording of the B minor Violin Concerto is a classic (review). The transfers here are good but not new.
Cortot and Navarra take the majority of Disc 29. The Fourth Piano Concerto is a famous Cortot recording, and it’s been multiply reissued. This is its fine Warner 2018 remastering (see a St Laurent Studio release for comparative purposes; review). André Navarra and Jean Fournet perform the A minor Cello Concerto in 1947 very adeptly though their recording tended to be overlooked in favour of that of Fournier and Süsskind. Heifetz and Barbirolli dazzle in their famous pre-war pairing of the Havanaise and Introduction et Rondo capriccioso.
Discs 30 and 31 are devoted to the famous 1955 mono cycle of the Piano Concertos recorded by Jeanne-Marie Darré and Louis Fourestier. This was a cornerstone of the LP catalogue and not to be missed though it would have been better had it been remastered for this edition. That’s something Studio Art & Son has done for the Third Symphony and the Suite algérienne in CD 32. The Symphony is conducted by Ernest Bour, with Maurice Duruflé at the organ, in 1954 and the suite by Fourestier, though strangely the latter’s Danse macabre and Phaton have not benefitted from their 192kHz/24-bit remastering. Maybe they didn’t have access to the master tapes.
The final two discs revisit operatic repertoire. Caruso, Georges Thill, Ninon Vallin and Lily Pons are heard in well-remembered and oft-reissued arias, whilst the final music is another recording of Samson et Dalila, but this time the work’s first commercial recording under the direction of Fourestier, one of Saint-Saëns’ finest exponents. It’s been reissued on several labels, EMI, Naxos and Preiser included and is discussed here.
There’s a helpful composer profile by Marie-Gabrielle Soret in French, English and German and a sensible index of works performed at the back, cross referencing the number of the relevant CD. Discographic information is wholly confined to the back of the individual CD sleeves.
Arriving in time to mark the centenary of his death, this is more than merely a sensible collection. It presents some of the very best recordings of the composer’s music ever made and my only quibble, apart from the omission of some of the composer’s 1904 recordings – and that’s something of a specialist’s critique – is the paucity of new remasterings.
Jonathan Woolf
Previous review: Michael Cookson
Contents
CD1
Orchestral works
Symphony in A major, R159
Symphony No 1 in E flat major, Op. 2
Symphony No 2 in A minor, Op. 55
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française/Jean Martinon
rec. 1972-74
CD2
Orchestral works
Symphonie en fa ‘Urbs Roma’, R163
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 'Organ Symphony'
Marie-Claire Alain (organ)/Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française/Jean Martinon
rec. 1970-74
CD3
Orchestral works
Danse macabre, Op. 40
La jeunesse d'Hercule, Op. 50
Phaéton, Op. 39
Le Rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31
Orchestre de Paris/Pierre Dervaux
La foi, Op. 130
Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse/Michel Plasson
rec. 1971 (Dervaux) and 1995 (Plasson)
CD4
Orchestral works
Le carnaval des animaux
Brenda Lucas and John Ogdon (piano)/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Louis Frémaux
Suite in D major for orchestra, Op. 49
Une nuit A Lisbonne, Op. 63
Saint-Saëns: Spartacus. Overture for orchestra
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
rec. 1971 (Frémaux) and 1993-95 (Kantorow)
CD5
Concertante music
Piano Concerto No.1 in D major, Op.17
Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.22
Piano Concerto No.4 in C minor, Op.44
Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)/RPO/André Previn
rec. 1985-87
CD6
Concertante music
Piano Concerto No.3 in E flat major, Op.29
Piano Concerto No.5 in F major ‘L’Égyptien’, Op.103
Wedding Cake - Valse-Caprice for piano & strings, Op. 76
Fantasie for piano & orchestra Op. 89
Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)/RPO/André Previn
rec. 1986-87
CD7
Concertante music
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Major Op. 20
Violin Concerto No. 2 in C Major Op. 58
Romance in C major, Op. 48, for violin and orchestra
Romance in D flat major, Op. 37
Morceau de concert in G major, Op. 62, for violin and orchestra
Caprice andalou, Op. 122
Prélude to Le Deluge Op. 45
Ulf Hoelscher (violin)/New Philharmonia Orchestra/Pierre Dervaux
rec. 1977
CD8
Concertante music
Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61
Ulf Hoelscher (violin)/New Philharmonia Orchestra/Pierre Dervaux
La Muse et le Poète, Op. 132
Renaud Capuçon (violin)/Gautier Capuçon (cello) Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/
Lionel Bringuier
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28
Havanaise, Op. 83
Etude en forme de valse (No. 6 from Six Études, Op. 52)
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie/Daniel Harding
rec. 1977 (Dervaux), 2000 (Harding), 2013 (Bringuier)
CD9
Concertante music
Odelette in D major, Op. 162
Clara Novakova (flute)/Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Tarantelle in A minor for flute, clarinet and piano and orchestra Op. 6
Clara Novakova (flute)/Richard Vieille (clarinet)/Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Romance in D flat major, Op. 37
Clara Novakova (flute)/Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Romance in F major, Op. 36
Radovan Vlatkovic (horn)/Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Morceau de concert in G major for harp and orchestra, Op. 154
Marielle Nordmann (harp)/Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Ensemble Orchestral de Paris (chamber ensemble)
Morceau de concert in F minor, Op. 94
Radovan Vlatkovic (horn)/Ensemble Orchestral de Paris/Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Cyprès (for solo organ) et Lauriers, Op. 156
Matthias Eisenberg (organ)/Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse/Michel Plasson
Rapsodie d'Auvergne for piano and orchestra Op. 73
Allegro appassionato for piano, or piano & orchestra, Op. 70
Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)/RPO/André Previn
rec. 1987 (Previn) and 1993-95
CD10
Concertante music and Chamber music
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
Mstislav Rostropovich (cello)/London Philharmonic Orchestra/Carlo Maria Giulini
Allegro Appassionato in B minor Op. 43
Paul Tortelier (cello)/City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Louis Frémaux
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75
Renaud Capuçon (violin)/Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
Violin Sonata No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 102
Olivier Charlier (violin)/Jean Hubeau (piano)
rec. 1977 (Giulini), 1977 (Frémaux), 2020 (Sonata 1), 1987 (Sonata 2)
CD11
Chamber music
Berceuse in B flat major Op. 38
Elégie, Op. 143
Elégie, Op. 160
Romance in D flat major, Op. 37
Olivier Charlier (violin)/Jean Hubeau (piano)
Fantaisie for violin and harp, Op. 124
Renaud Capuçon (violin)/Marie-Pierre Langlamet (harp)
Cello Sonata No. 1 in C minor Op. 32
Romance in F major, Op. 36
Allegro Appassionato in B minor Op. 43
Romance, Op. 51
Roland Pidoux (cello)/Jean Hubeau (piano)
Prière for cello & piano, Op. 158
Gautier Capuçon (cello)/Frank Braley (piano)
rec. 1987 (Charlier) 1991 (Pidoux), 2002 (Capuçon)
CD12
Chamber music
Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major Op. 123
Roland Pidoux (cello)/Jean Hubeau (piano)
Suite for Cello and Piano, Op. 16: II. Sérénade
Paul Tortelier (cello)/Maria de la Pau (piano)
Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167
Sabine Meyer (clarinet)/Oleg Maisenberg (piano)
Oboe Sonata in D major Op. 166
Nicholas Daniel (oboe)/Julius Drake (piano)
Bassoon Sonata in G major, Op. 168
Dirk Meijer (bassoon)/Jan van Liere (piano)
rec. 1991 (Pidoux), 1979 (Tortelier), 1990 (Daniel), 2001 (Meijer). 2006 (Meyer)
CD13
Chamber music
Cavatine, for trombone and piano, Op. 144
Ian Bousfield (trombone)/Alison Procter (piano)
Piano Trio No. 1 in F major Op. 18
Yan Pascal Tortelier (violin), Paul Tortelier (cello), Maria de la Pau (piano)
Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor Op. 92
Renaud Capuçon (violin), Edgar Moreau (cello), Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
Caprice sur des airs danois et russes for piano, flute, oboe and clarinet Op. 79
Robert Fontaine (clarinet), Thomas Prévost (flute), Jacques Vandeville (oboe), Viktoria Postnikova (piano)
rec. 1978 (Trio 1), 2020 (Trio 2), 1991 (Caprice), 1995 (Cavatine)
CD14
Chamber music
String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 112
String Quartet No. 2 in G major, Op. 153
Quatuor Viotti
rec. 1984
CD15
Chamber music
Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 41
Quatuor Kandinsky
Piano Quintet in A minor Op. 14
Groupe instrumental de Paris
rec. 1983 (Piano Quartet), 1970 (Piano Quintet)
CD16
Chamber music
Le carnaval des animaux
Michel Béroff (piano), Jean-Philippe Collard (piano), Alain Moglia (violin), Jacques Cazauran (double bass), Michel Debost (flute), Claude Desurmont (clarinet), Maurice André (trumpet), Guy-Joël Cipriani and Gérard Pérotin (percussion)
Saint-Saëns: Septet in E flat major for piano, trumpet, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass Op. 65
Ensemble and Le Trio à cordes français
Fantaisie for harp, Op. 95
Marielle Nordmann (harp)
Allegro appassionato for piano, or piano and orchestra, Op. 70
Valse nonchalante, Op. 110
Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
rec. 1970 (Le Carnaval, Septet) 1981 (Fantaisie), 2017 (Allegro appassionato, Valse)
CD17
Instrumental music
Six Études Op. 52
Six Études Op. 111
Mazurka for Piano no 3 in B minor, Op. 66
Valse mignonne in E flat major, Op. 104
Valse gaie for Piano, Op. 139
François-René Duchâble (piano)
Études (6) pour la main gauche seule, Op. 135
Aldo Ciccolini (piano)
rec.1979 and 1971 (Etudes pour le main gauche)
CD18
Instrumental music
Scherzo for 2 Pianos, Op. 87
Lilya Zilberstein (piano), Akano Sakai (piano)
Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28
Caprice on Airs from Gluck's 'Alceste'
Jean-François Heisser (piano), Georges Pludermacher (piano)
Symphony No. 2 in A minor, Op. 55
Jean-Pierre Armengaud (piano), Olivier Chauzu (piano)
Etienne Marcel: Ballet Music
Jean-Pierre Armengaud (piano), Olivier Chauzu (piano)
rec.1993 (Introduction, Caprice), 2008 (Scherzo), 2017 (Symphony, Etienne Marcel)
CD19
Instrumental music; solo organ works 1
Marche religieuse, Op. 107
Rhapsodies (3) on Breton Themes, Op. 7
Fantaisie in E flat major
Fantasie in D flat major
Fantasie in C major
Preludes and Fugues (3), Op. 99
Daniel Roth (organ)
rec.1978
CD20
Instrumental music; solo organ works 1
Preludes and Fugues (3), Op. 109
Benediction Nuptiale in F major, Op. 9
Improvisations (7), Op. 150
Cyprès, Op. 156 No. 1
Elevation Ou Communion in E major, Op. 13
Daniel Roth (organ)
rec.1978
CD21
Vocal and Choral music
La cloche
Clair de lune
L'attente (Hugo)
Le Pas d'armes du Roi Jean (Hugo)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Harmuth Höll (piano)
Pastorale
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Victoria de los Angeles (soprano), Gerald Moore (piano)
Violons dans le soir
Melodies Persanes Op. 26
Le vent dans la plane (Verlane)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor), Jérôme Ducros (piano)
Danse macabre (song)
Sonnet
Les cloches de la mer
Extase (Hugo)
Reverie (Hugo)
Si Vous N'avez Rien A Me Dire
Le lever de la lune (Pseudo-Ossian)
José van Dam (bass-baritone), Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)
Une flûte invisible
Christa Ludwig (mezzo-soprano), Geoffrey Parsons (piano)
Le Rossignol et la Rose – vocalise
Natalie Dessay (soprano), Berlin Symphony Orchestra/Michel Schønwandt
Pastorale
El Desdichado
Ann Murray (mezzo-soprano), Graham Johnson (piano)
Choeurs (2), Op. 68
Saltarelle Op. 74
Ensemble vocal Jean Sourisse/Ensemble vocal Audite Nova, Jean Sourisse
rec. 1960-2008
CD22
Vocal and Choral music
Messe, Op. 4
Isabel Balmori-Padesca (soprano), Annelise Théodoloz (alto), Laurent Dami (tenor), Alain Clément (baritone), Stephan Imboden (bass)/Marie-Claire Alain (organ)/Ensemble vocal de Lausanne/Michel Corboz
Samson et Dalila: Printemps qui commence: Samson, recherchant ma présence…Amour, viens aider ma faiblesse: Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix
Maria Callas (soprano)/Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française/Georges Prêtre
Henry VIII: Ô Cruel Souvenir!
Véronique Gens (soprano)/Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset
rec.1988 (Messe), 1961 (Callas), 2011 (Gens)
CD23 and 24
Opera
Samson et Dalila
Rita Gorr (mezzo-soprano), Jon Vickers (tenor), Ernest Blanc (baritone), Anton Diakov (bass), Rémi Corazza (tenor), Jacques Potier (tenor), Jean-Pierre Hurteau (bass)/Choeurs René Duclos, Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris/Georges Prêtre
rec. 1962
CD25
Transcriptions and Arrangements
Bach: Partita for solo violin No. 1 in B minor, BWV1002: Bourrée arr. for piano, Camille Saint-Saëns
Stephen Hough (piano)
Le Cygne from Le carnaval des animaux arr. for piano, Leopold Godowsky
Alexandre Tharaud (piano)
Bach: Partita for solo violin No. 1 in B minor, BWV1002: Bourrée arr. for harp, Camille Saint-Saëns
Lily Laskine (harp)
Danse macabre, Op. 40 arr. for organ, Edwin Lamare
Oliver Latry (organ)
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28 arr. for violin and piano, Georges Bizet
Havanaise, Op. 83 transcr. for violin and piano
Viviane Hagner (violin), Nicole Hagner (piano)
Le Cygne from Le carnaval des animaux transc for violin and piano, Jascha Heifetz
Itzhak Perlman (violin), Samuel Sanders (piano)
Samson et Dalila: Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix arr. for cello and piano, Georges Papin
Gautier Capuçon (cello), Frank Braley (piano)
Le Cygne from Le carnaval des animaux arr, for cello and orchestra, Paul Vidal
Gautier Capuçon (cello)/Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Douglas Boyd
Samson et Dalila: Danse des Prêtresses de Dagon arr. for cello and piano, A Samm
Étienne Marcel: Pavane arr, for cello and piano, Jules Delsart
Les cloches du soir, Op. 85 arr. for cello and piano, F Ronchini
Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61: II. Andantino quasi allegretto transcr. for cello and piano, Thomas Vautier
Paul Tortelier (cello), Maria de la Pau (piano)
Le Cygne from Le carnaval des animaux arr. for cello and harp
Jacqueline du Pré (cello), Osian Ellis (harp)
rec.1991 (Hough), 1997 (Hagner), 1962 (du Pré), 1963 (Laskine), 1979 (Tortelier), 1988 (Perlman), 2002 (Capuçon), 2013 (Tharaud) 2016 (Latry, Boyd)
CD26
Transcriptions and Arrangements
Le Cygne from Le carnaval des animaux. Transcr. for trumpet and piano, Mikhail Nakariakov
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28 arr. for trumpet and piano, Mikhail Nakariakov
Mikhail Nakariakov (trumpet, flugelhorn)/Alexander Markovich (piano)/Philharmonia/Vladimir Ashkenazy
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 transcr. for flugelhorn and piano, Mikhail Nakariakov
Mikhail Nakariakov (trumpet)/Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra/Saulius Sondeckis
Le carnaval des animaux
The King’s Singers/Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Carl Davis
rec. 1986 (Davis), 1994 (Le Cygne), 1999 (Introduction) 2002 (Concerto)
CD27
Historical Recordings
Samson et Dalila (improvisation)
Chopin: Impromptu No. 2 in F sharp major, Op. 36
Valse mignonne in E flat major, Op. 104
Mazurka for Piano No. 1 in G minor, Op. 21
Valse nonchalante, Op. 110
Mazurka for Piano no 3 in B minor, Op. 66
Rapsodie d'Auvergne for piano & orchestra Op. 73
Improvised Cadenza (From Africa, Op. 89)
Valse mignonne in E flat major, Op. 104
Valse nonchalante, Op. 110
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 (excerpt)
Rapsodie d'Auvergne for piano & orchestra Op. 73
Prélude to Le Deluge Op. 45
Elégie, Op. 143
Suite algérienne, Op. 60 (excerpt)
Mazurka for Piano No. 1 in G minor, Op. 21
Valse mignonne in E flat major, Op. 104
Havanaise, Op. 83
Camille Saint-Saëns (piano): Gabriel Willaume (violin)
rec.1904, 1919
CD28
Historical Recordings
Oratorio de Noël (Christmas Oratorio), Op. 12: Tecum principium (Prière)
Henry Debruyne (violin), Cornelis Liégeois (cello), Auguste Delacroix (piano)
Le Rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire/Philippe Gaubert
Overture to the opera ‘La Princesse jaune', Op. 30
Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire/André Cluytens
Havanaise, Op. 83 transcr for violin and piano
Jacques Thibaud (violin), Tasso Janopoulo (piano)
Prélude to Le Deluge Op. 45 transcr for violin and piano
Jacques Thibaud (violin), Georges de Lausnay (piano)
Toccata d'après le cinquième concerto (No. 6 from Six Études, Op. 111)
Monique de la Bruchollerie (piano)
Etude en forme de valse (No. 6 from Six Études, Op. 52)
Alfred Cortot (piano)
Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, Op. 61
Henry Merckel (violin)/Orchestre de l’Association des Concerts Pasdeloup
rec. 1906-43
CD29
Historical Recordings
Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44
Alfred Cortot (piano)/Orchestra, Charles Munch
Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
André Navarra (cello)/Orchestre de l’Association des Concerts Colonne, Jean Fournet
Introduction & Rondo capriccioso, Op. 28
Jascha Heifetz (violin)/London Philharmonic Orchestra, John Barbirolli
Havanaise, Op. 83
Jascha Heifetz (violin)/London Symphony Orchestra, John Barbirolli
rec. 1935-37
CD30
Historical Recordings
Piano Concerto No.1 in D major, Op.17
Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor, Op.22
Piano Concerto No.3 in E flat major, Op.29
Jeanne-Marie Darré (piano)/Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Louis Fourestier
rec. 1955
CD31
Historical Recordings
Piano Concerto No.4 in C minor, Op.44
Piano Concerto No.5 in F major ‘L’Égyptien’, Op.103
Jeanne-Marie Darré (piano)/Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Louis Fourestier
Septet in E flat major, Op.65
Roger Delmotte (trumpet), Gaston Logerot (double bass), Pascal Quartet
rec.1955 (Darré) and 1951 (Septet)
CD32
Historical Recordings
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78 'Organ Symphony'
Maurice Duruflé (organ)/ Orchestre du Théâtre Champs-Élysées, Ernest Bour
Suite algérienne, Op. 60
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Louis Fourestier
Danse macabre, Op. 40
Jacques Dabat (violin)/Orchestre de l’Association des Concerts Colonne, Louis Fourestier
Phaéton, Op. 39
Orchestre de l’Association des Concerts Colonne, Louis Fourestier
rec.1952-54
CD33 and 34
Historical Recordings
Samson et Dalila; Vois ma misère, hélas Samson
Enrico Caruso (tenor)/Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Samson et Dalila; Vois ma misère, hélas Samson
Georges Thill (tenor)/Orchestra, Philippe Gaubert
Samson et Dalila: L’as-tu donc oublié
Georges Thill (tenor)/Orchestra, Eugène Bigot
Marquise, vous souvenez-vous?
Georges Thill (tenor), Joseph Benvenuti (piano)
Le bonheur est chose legere
Ninon Vallin (soprano), Raoul Barthalay (violin), Madeleine d’Aleman (piano)
Parysatis: Le Rossignol et la Rose – vocalise
Lily Pons (soprano)/Orchestra, Gustave Cloë
Samson et Dalila
Hélène Bouvier (soprano), José Luccioni (tenor), Paul Cabanel (baritone), Henri Médus (bass)/Chorus and Orchestre du Théâtre National de l’Opéra de Paris, Louis Fourestier
rec.1916-46
