I can't wait to hear your commentary on S-Ss Bassoon Sonata (opus 168). A true gem in the chamber music repertoire. I am hoping you will recommend a recording or two that do it justice.
I really appreciate your ceaseless promotion of poor, criminally underrated S-S..so much wonderful music that nobody talks about...take the 2nd symphony: the first measures almost exactly sound like Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo prelude..a century earlier!
Hermann got lots of inspiration from earlier composers... like his Psycho score was inspired by Sibelius' Pohjola's Daughter. Nothing wrong with that. Just saying.
One of my very favourite composers. By all means make this a 20-video series. There is an excellent disc of all the two-piano music Saint-Saëns wrote on Vanguard, featuring Groslot/Blumenthal. Pretty much indispensible.
Thank you for the video. I am always hoping you do more video's of worst to best recordings, like you did for example with Beethoven string quartet cycles and Bruckner symphony cycles, but then perhaps also just single pieces; Liszt Hungarian rhapsodies, Bach WTK, Schumann piano works, Bach Cantates, Ravel piano works. Dvorak string quintets and sextets.
I remember being surprised at Claudio Arrau's Top Ten list when he appeared in 1960 on the BBC's Desert Island Discs program. His 4th selection was the Gillels/Cluytens/Paris Conservatoire recording of Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto #2, which he called "one of the greatest piano recordings ever made." Wasn't surprised because it IS a great recording, but because I don't necessarily associate Arrau with Saint-Saens.
I’m so irritated that my Plasson Organ and Cypres et Lauriers didn’t include La Foi… I will have to hunt for it. I have the Basel/Zollman with the 2nd symphony, at least. Speaking of Macelaru, he has been programming his own excerpted suite of La Foi a lot.
It is also available on Hyperion. Haven't heard that one myself, but Thierry Fischer is a really good bet in French music (his Jean Françaix series is wonderful).
I have been listening to the wonderful set of symphonies conducted by Christian Macelaru from Paris. Yes, the music is cultured and enjoyable, but it is hard to get away from the sense that all roads lead to the Organ Symphony. There are lovely moments in the other works, but they somehow do not stand out as being all that distinctive. The Jarvi/RSNO set of overtures/extracts is also very entertaining, a favourite go-to recording.
I think you’re right about the supremacy of the third symphony, but there’s more to the others than you suggest. It all depends on how well you get to know them.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I wasn't sure whether you were recommending all these recordings or not. Some of the repertory overlapped, of course. I enjoy a lot of these S-S pieces, but don't see him as the equal of Debussy, Ravel, or Poulenc. It's nice that his operas are arousing some renewed interest. I read that he was world-famous for his operas around 1900 but that tastes have changed. There are eleven, I think. Only "Samson et Dalila" is well-known. One I would love to see: "Henri VIII". (If that isn't the exact title, you get the idea!). Montserrat apparently played Anne Boleyn in a European performance 20+ years ago. I have sung in his "Oratorio de Noel", a lovely piece, somewhat of a rarity. There are some nice songs for chorus, too. Thanks for this attention to his music.
Early morning, sitting in a hotel breakfast area, I have the sound down and CC turned on. The CC of your French names is rather entertaining, to tell the truth. 😂
The man’s reputation is a bit of a paradox: I’d say he’s the most underrated composer among those composers universally known to classical fans. Saint-Saëns purportedly even referred to himself as the first composer of the second rank. For my money he’s a true great.
