Saint Charbel

Gilels was a true king of pianists, and these Paris- and New York-based recordings only confirm his legendary status. Here, again, is that superlative musicianship, that magisterial technique and, above all, that unforgettable sonority. What breadth and distinction he brings to the first movement of the Saint-Saëns, from his fulmination in the central octave uproar to his uncanny stillness in the final pages. High jinks are reserved for the second and third movements, the former tossed off with a teasing lightness, the latter's whirling measures with infinite brio.

The Canadian contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and its Artistic and Music Director Kazuki Yamada, interprets the now ‘traditional’ recorded pairing of two sumptuous, escapist French song cycles: Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été and Ravel’s Shéhérazade. Complementing them both musically and thematically is a third, less frequently heard cycle by another great French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns: his Mélodies Persanes (Persian Songs). “From the first note to the last, Lemieux’s interpretation of the Berlioz was exemplary …” wrote Bachtrack when she performed Les Nuits d’été in Paris. “From the depths of her lower register to her shimmering high notes, she traced a supple trajectory through the work, phrasing with amplitude and missing no opportunity for word-painting.”

Parmi l'oeuvre de Saint-Saëns, les concertos pour piano sont d'une importance indéniable. D'abord parce que leur composition accompagne Saint- Saëns entre 1848 et 1896, ensuite parce qu'ils sont symboliques d'un style fait de légèreté, d'intelligence et de finesse. Populaires, ces concertos le deviennent rapidement grâce à la clarté de leurs thèmes musicaux et à leur grande richesse harmonique. Le compositeur français n'oublie pas de truffer ses partitions de quelques notes d'humour que François-René Duchâble sait nous rappeler mieux que quiconque.

This disc, recorded live toward the end of Jacqueline du Pré's grievously short career, displays both her irresistible magic–the sumptuous, warm tone, the spontaneous immediacy of expression, the technical and emotional risk-taking born of total faith in her talent and musical instincts–and her unbridled excesses: the liberties, the extreme tempi and tempo changes, the passionate abandon, the incessant slow, sentimental slides.

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.

The prospect of a little-known Saint-Saëns orchestral work might not set the heart racing, but just wait until you hear ‘La foi’. Ample amends for a century’s unaccountable neglect are made with this magnificent new recording—so much more than a prelude to the ‘organ’ symphony.

Mozart's flute concertos are of course a Holy Grail for flautist François Lazarevitch, one that he has decided to tackle together with his ensemble Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien in connection with their work on sources of interpretation. He has recorded the two concertos for flute and orchestra on a one-keyed flute, a copy of an instrument made in Mozart’s time, and the concerto in C for flute and harp on an eight-keyed flute — a flute with a C foot — with Sandrine Chatron playing a period harp by François-Joseph Naderman. As Mozart left no original cadenzas for the flute concertos, François Lazarevitch has created his own, drawing inspiration from the cadenzas Mozart composed for his piano concertos. The Menuets and Gavottes in the final movements are particularly highlighted by the ensemble’s expertise in music for dancing: "after a first movement that is a little solemn and a second that is more lyrical, the final movements are often a moment for release in dance," concludes Lazarevitch.