Search - Camille Saint-Saens, Eliahu Inbal, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt :: Saint-Saëns: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 [Hybrid SACD]

Glorious Music in Glorious Performances and Glorious Sound

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"[First, a word about the provenance of this recording. Both these symphonies were recorded in 1975 using the then-new quadraphonic system. This CD is from a series of re-issues of quadraphonic recordings from that era, now presented in four-channel SACD. The sound is crystal clear and has a richness that is actually rather astonishing for that era. It is from PentaTone Music, which was founded in 2001 by three former executives of Philips Classics together with Polyhymnia International (the former recording center of Philips Classics). They are to be commended for unearthing and re-releasing this and other quadraphonic releases.]



It has long been fashionable to denigrate the music of Camille Saint-Saëns. He has often been considered a musical genius on the order of Mozart who squandered his talents by producing modest, bland, squeaky-clean music of no great import. Aside from very few works -- the Third Symphony, 'Danse Macabre', 'Carnival of the Animals' (with the ubiquitous 'The Swan'), 'Samson et Dalila,' and perhaps one of the piano concertos -- his voluminous output has fallen into desuetude. But indeed he wrote some glorious music that is not often heard. And here we have two works that deserve to be played at least occasionally.



Saint-Saëns wrote his First Symphony when he was only eighteen and it ranks with other youthful symphonies in the repertoire, like the Bizet 'Symphony in C' or Prokofiev's 'Classical Symphony'. Granted, some of its seams show, but the melodic invention is first-rate, as are the working out (three of the four movements are in sonata form), the rhythmic drive and the inventive (and sometimes amazingly advanced) orchestration. Before playing this CD it had been years since I'd really listened to this symphony and I have to say that its felicities startled me. I'd forgotten how profligate Saint-Saëns was with his materials and I was repeatedly taken by surprise at their richness. The perky main theme of the second movement, the 'March-Scherzo', has been caroming around in my brain for days now. The fugal ending of the finale is completely assured. The Radio Symphony of Frankfurt, under Eliahu Inbal, play the music convincingly. I have to imagine that they had probably not known the work before this 1975 recording but it is clear that it delights them.



The Second Symphony was written six years after the First and Saint-Saëns's development is apparent. It is a more sophisticated and complex work, but the earlier proflicacy of memorable themes is still quite apparent. For me, a high point is the short but moving second movement Adagio (notwithstanding the booklet writer who refers to its 'heavy progress'), then followed by a rhythmically exciting Scherzo. In the finale we are treated to a whirling tarantella (slightly reminiscent of the saltarello finale of Mendelssohn's 'Italian Symphony') with a mysterious, almost diffident lento section just before the whirlwind ending which brings the work to a rousing finish. Again, the Frankfort RSO under Inbal's sensitive leadership shows itself to have been a first-rate ensemble at the time of this recording.



This is a recording to treasure.



Scott Morrison"