Saint Saens: Piano Concertos Ean Yves Thibaudet

Grieg & Chopin: Piano Concertos
Classical | FLAC (EAC Rip) + Log | RS.com | 231 MB | 2000
Jean-Yves Thibaudet; Valery Gergiev; Rotterdam Phil Orch

The Grieg piano concerto is one of those works that are hindered by their own popularity. It has been a constant feature of concert life for so long that it is sometimes dismissed as an old warhorse, making it difficult to approach it with fresh ears. Yet that is what Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Valery Gergiev have managed to do here, to judge from the results. From the very opening chord, which somehow gives an almost Hollywood feel to the famous descending piano passage that starts the work, there is a sense of discovery that you don't expect to find in such a well-known piece. The dramatic bluster is all there. But so is some very delicate playing from both soloist and orchestra. Chopin's second piano concerto (the first to be written, but the second to be published) is no stranger to our concert platforms, either, and again we get a fresh, unhackneyed reading. As with the Grieg, Thibaudet's entrance is dramatic, and both soloist and conductor seem to take pleasure in bringing out the romanticism. If you have any doubts, try the deliciously lyrical Larghetto movement, and they will be instantly dispelled.

Keith Clarke

Saint-Saëns - Piano Concertos 1-5 - Pascal Rogé, Charles Dutoit (1981) {2CD Set Decca 443 865-2 rel 1995}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 534 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 325 Mb
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© 1981, 1995 Decca | 443 865-2
Classical / Romantic

Among the virtuosity warhorses in the piano repertory, the five concertos by Camille Saint-Saens have established an appealing reputation. The audiences worldwide are enchanted to attend performances by great virtuosos in utterly melodious and harmonic works with dazzling keyboard pyrotechnics and musical ideas of the most refined quality. Yet, a very few of the professional pianists dare to approach this pianistic output by one of the most prolific and multifaceted artists of the European culture (composer, playwright, philosopher, astronomer, archaeologist, poet etc). To find the proper touch, to balance the wild virtuosity with the subtle musical concept, to get the deepest level of significance in these works – are all difficult tasks that require a high level of artistry (not only in pianistic terms).

In 2019, Alexandre and Jean-Jacques Kantorow’s recording of the last three piano concertos by Camille Saint-Saëns earned the highest praise around the world, including a Diapason d’or de l’année, Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and top marks and recommendations from the leading German web sites Klassik Heute and Klassik.com. The Kantorows’ orchestra of choice was the Finnish ensemble Tapiola Sinfonietta, and they have now returned to Helsinki to record not only Saint-Saëns’ first two concertos, but all of the remaining works for piano and orchestra.

It is surprising, given the popularity of the repertoire, that all the recordings of Saint-Saëns' complete concertos currently before the public pre-date the CD era and none of them are fully digital. In addition it has never before been possible to obtain all the composer's output for piano and orchestra on only two CDs. For these reasons alone this latest addition to the 'Romantic Piano Concerto' series is likely to become one of the most successful of all. The Gramophone 'Record of the Year' winning team of Stephen Hough and the CBSO are joined by their new principle conductor Sakari Oramo in performances which combine all the elegance required for the Frenchman's music with the utmost bravura. Saint-Saëns himself was a formidable pianist and his rare 1904 (!) 78rpm recording of Africa has until now been matchless; finally in Stephen Hough's performance he has a rival.

The debt owed by French music to Saint-Saëns is often overlooked. At a time when many composers saw opera as the only way forward, Saint-Saëns took the supposedly Germanic forms of symphony, sonata and concerto, and transformed them into something idiomatically French. His five concertos for piano and orchestra demonstrate his own skills as a pianist and reflect his admiration for Liszt.

In a world full of couplings of Schumann and Grieg's Piano Concertos in A minor, this disc offers three distinct advantages. First and most obviously, it offers an additional work, Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto in G minor, which brings the disc's total playing time up 78 minutes. Second, it offers up a soloist who's also the conductor, the multitalented Howard Shelley who directs England's Orchestra of Opera North from the keyboard.

Following his award-winning survey of Ravel’s complete solo piano works, Bertrand Chamayou takes on some of the most brilliant yet fiendishly virtuosic music in the French Romantic repertoire on his new Saint-Saëns album, drawing together the two most famous of the composer-pianist’s five piano concertos – the epic No.2 and the irresistibly exotic No.5 ‘The Egyptian’ – alongside a bouquet of lesser-known solo pieces and études that will delight pianophiles. These include the effervescent yet notoriously difficult Étude en forme de Valse with its breathtaking bravura finale, and the entrancing Les Cloches de Las Palmas inspired by the bells Saint-Saëns heard ringing out in the Canary Islands. ‘I’m always charmed by Saint-Saëns,’ says Chamayou. ‘There’s an attraction to the exotic, the bizarre, sensual fantasy, that’s very curious for a composer that we think of as so academic. And there’s a real sense of voyage in the music of Saint-Saëns that I find fascinating.’ He is joined by the Orchestre National de France and its formidable conductor Emmanuel Krivine for an album that promises fireworks, champagne and just a few puffs of opium.

Louis Lortie completes his survey of the piano concertos of Saint-Saëns with Nos 3 and 5 (the Egyptian), adding the Rhapsodie dAuvergne and Allegro appassionato for good measure. As before, he is joined by Edward Gardner and the BBC Philharmonic.