The Best of Saint-Saëns

Опубликовано 27 марта 2026, 12:00

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Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was a French composer, pianist, and organist—one of the most prolific and technically accomplished musicians of the Romantic era, celebrated for bridging the classical tradition with a distinctly French sensibility.
Born in Paris, he showed exceptional musical gifts from infancy, performing publicly as a pianist at age ten. He became organist at the Madeleine in 1857 and was a founding figure of the Société Nationale de Musique (1871), a key institution in the revival of French instrumental music. A close friend of Liszt and an admirer of Bach and Handel, he was at once a guardian of tradition and a bold formal experimenter.
His output spans virtually every genre: the opera Samson et Dalila (1877) stands as his dramatic masterpiece, while the Organ Symphony (No. 3, 1886) remains his most celebrated orchestral achievement. His piano and violin concertos are cornerstones of the Romantic repertoire, and the witty Carnival of the Animals (1886)—kept private during his lifetime—became one of the most beloved orchestral suites ever written.
A tireless traveler, he spent extended periods in Algeria, Egypt, and the Canary Islands, and his music occasionally reflects these encounters with non-European soundscapes. He remained active as a performer and composer until the very end, dying in Algiers in December 1921.

Tracklist:

00:00:00 Danse macabre (Arr. for String Quintet by Fabien Touchard)
Smoking Joséphine

Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33:
00:07:39 I. Allegro non troppo
00:13:02 II. Allegretto con moto
00:18:03 III. A Little Slower
Anne Gastinel, Orchestre National de Lyon, Emmanuel Krivine

00:26:30 The Carnival of the Animals: The Swan
Christian-Pierre La Marca, Nathanaël Gouin, Members of the Orchestre de Paris

Suite Algérienne:
00:29:33 I. Prelude. A View of Algiers
00:33:20 II. Moorish Rhapsody
00:39:04 III. An Evening Dream at Bilda
00:44:55 IV. French Military March
Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, David Robertson

Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Major:
00:49:25 I. Allegro
00:53:58 II. Andante Espressivo
00:56:13 III. Allegro
Geneviève Laurenceau, Benjamin Levy, Orchestre de Picardie

01:01:40 Andromaque Overture
Rapsodie Bretonne:
01:09:56 I. Allegretto
01:13:58 II. Andantino – Allegro quasi Presto – Andantino – Allegretto
Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, David Robertson

01:20:53 Romance
Geneviève Laurenceau, Benjamin Levy, Orchestre de Picardie

Suite in D Minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 16:
01:26:19 I. Prelude. Moderato assai
01:28:09 II. Serenade. Andantino
01:30:58 III. Scherzo. Allegro non troppo
01:35:16 IV. Romance. Molto adagio
01:41:50 V. Finale. Presto non troppo
Christoph Henkel, Huseyin Sermet

Piano Quartet No. 1 in B-Flat Major, Op. 41:
01:47:03 I. Allegretto
01:54:41 II. Andante maestoso ma con moto
02:01:29 III. Poco allegro più tosto moderato
02:07:52 IV. Allegro
Huseyin Sermet, Régis Pasquier, Bruno Pasquier, Roland Pidoux

02:17:03 Javotte, fantaisie pour orchestre
Orchestre philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, David Robertson

Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor:
02:37:54 ia. Allegro Agitato
02:44:54 ib. Adagio
02:50:24 iia. Allegretto Moderato
02:54:20 iib. Allegro Molto
Geneviève Laurenceau, David Bismuth

Piano Quartet No. 2 in B-flat Major:
03:00:21 I. Allegretto
03:07:59 II. Andante Maestoso ma con moto
03:14:46 III. Poco Allegro piu’ tosto moderato
03:21:09 IV. Allegro
Régis Pasquier, Bruno Pasquier, Roland Pidoux, Huseyin Sermet

© All rights reserved, courtesy of Naïve Records.

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