Search - Camille Saint-Saens, Stephen Gunzenhauser, CSR Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) :: Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "Organ"; Le Rouet d'Omphale

Inspired and entertaining

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 10/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is another of those Naxos CDs that makes you wonder how they do it. I compared Gunzenhauser's 1988 version with Seiji Ozawa's on EMI, and the differences were only subtle: Ozawa's French strings are stronger, the percussion (triangle) in the third movement is clearer, the tonal balance is slightly better, and there is a delicacy to the whole that Gunzenhauser does not quite achieve. But the Naxos version is nonetheless excellent, giving both an inspired and entertaining performance and also plenty of detail in a surprisingly pleasant acoustic (the Bratislava Concert Hall often sounds a lot worse than it does here). All in all, I would say that the normal music fan could be very satisfied with this disc, only Saint-Saens afficionados will want something even more cultured (and a lot more expensive). - The 'encores', Le Rouet d'Omphale and the Bacchanale from 'Samson and Delilah' are also very well done indeed and deserve great praise. I am most grateful for this CD."

Good

Leslie Richford | 09/20/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I think that as far as this is a budget CD, this is superb. The Bacchanale is wonderful. So is the symphony. Yes."