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| | Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos 1-5 | | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Decca | | Release Date : | | 1995-05-16 | | Discs : | | 2 | | Store Price : | | $17.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $13.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 17: Movement 1
2. Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 17: Movement 2
3. Piano Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 17: Movement 3
4. Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22: I. Andante Sostenuto
5. Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22: II. Allegro Scherzando
6. Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22: III. Presto
7. Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 29: Moderato assai - Più mosso (Allegro maestoso)
Disc 21. Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 29: Andante
2. Piano Concerto No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 29: Allegro non troppo
3. Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44: Allegro moderato / Andante
4. Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, Op. 44: Allegro vivace / Andante / Allegro
5. Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Egyptian'), in F major, Op. 103: I. Allegro animato
6. Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Egyptian'), in F major, Op. 103: II. Andante
7. Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Egyptian'), in F major, Op. 103: III. Molto Allegro
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Still The Frontrunner For These Concerti After All These Years
Submitted on: 2009-10-15 |
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Pascal Roge is a master of the French piano repertoire. His recordings of Ravel, Debussy, and Poulenc are some of the best on the market. He has such control over the piano. His ideas are clear, clean, articulate, and most of all passionate. The Saint-Saens piano concerti have long been some undervalued scores to play. There isn't much competition for this set either, epsecially in regards to complete sets and modern recordings.
Other recordings that exist are Stephen Hough/Hyperion and Collard/EMI. These sets are great, but they don't exactly inject a French aesthetic or authenticity. The conductors on both Hyperion and EMI sets: Sakari Oramo and Andre Previn are not authoritive conductors in my opinion. Dutoit is a master of the French repertoire: Ravel, Debussy, Poulenc, Roussel, Faure, and of course Saint-Saens. Another reviewer mentioned the audio quality being bad and I certainly don't hear anything remotely bad about it. Perhaps this reviewer has never heard of the treble, midrange, and bass controls (they're located on your amplifier by the way). Anyway, all of these performances sound great and are performed beautifully.
This set is definitely the Saint-Saens piano concerti set to own first. Highly recommended.
Also checkout out Dutoit's other recordings of Saint-Saens:
Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre
Saint-Saens: Violin Concertos 1 & 3
Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony; Poulenc: Organ Concerto
Special edit: This set is with the London Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, and Royal Philharmonic. |
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Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos
Submitted on: 2008-09-06 |
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| I am so happy to have discovered these piano concertos from Saint-Saens. I listen to this CD very often. It truly is a beautiful collection of music. I am thrilled to have discovered Camille Saint-Saens. |
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Wonderful
Submitted on: 2008-06-13 |
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| This is one of my favorite CD's. I have it for my car and my home. |
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Sublime
Submitted on: 2008-02-29 |
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| I bought this collection randomly, having never heard any of Saint-Saens's music. Now four years later, I have heard some of these concerti performed live several times, and I've listened to recordings of these pieces from both big names (Rubinstein, Richter, et. al) and less popular pianists (Emil Gilels, Stephen Hough, Idil Biret..), and I have to say, those guys have nothing on Roge/Dutoit. These recordings have a certain undefinable energy to them that everyone else seems to lack; it's like they're at home, completely comfortable in this music, playing the way Saint-Saens would have wanted them to. I often listen to music in the background while working, and nothing can compare to this recording's ability to pull itself into the foreground. This is some of the most beautiful classical music, played perfectly. |
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Emotion Provoking
Submitted on: 2007-12-30 |
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I know that a lot of reviewers and musical "experts" have a problem with Saint Saens, evidently because emotions are absent from his pieces. Do people, though, consider Hayden's music or Mozart's music chocked full of emotion? Not in my opinion. Not only that, but a lot of these older composers--all their music sounds the same because they wrote forty to one hundred symphonies or some large number to make a LIVING, not to EXPRESS themselves.
Anyway, I can see most people that reviewed these CDs hold either St. Saens or the conductor and orchestra's performance in high regard. I think whether or not Saens put loads of emotion into his pieces is not the point; the point is that it evokes emotion in the listener. The two that stand out in my mind now are two and four, though all of them are interesting. And every time I listen to a concerto, I feel strong emotions--grief, sadness, pity. Sure, those are all sad feelings, but they are all a part of the human, part of existence.
So, to keep myself from going too far off, these are great CDs and great concertos and a great performance of them. However technical, however lacking in depth and perspective, they are wonderous to listen to, and, most importantly, evoke emotions of the listener. Saens accomplished that while being technical, and I can't say that for all the works I've listened to. |
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