Saint Just

Saint Vitus had successfully returned in 2003 after an 8 year absence, touring around the world, but had yet to release any new material until, finally, after a 17 year gap, the band released Lillie: F-65. Named after a drug, the record is as doomy and dark as Saint Vitus can get. A great return to the music scene, each song on the record is heavier, more pessimist and bleaker than the previous, making this a must have for 2012.

It's always a good thing when a new recording fills a hole in the catalogue, and this all-Saint-Saëns chamber programme from seasoned collaborators Renaud Capuçon, Bertrand Chamayou and Edgar Moreau is one of those. Firstly because, while there already exists a generous smattering of readings of the first violin and cello sonatas from a range of top names, they tend not to be paired with each other.

Saint Etienne's eighth record, Words and Music by Saint Etienne, is centered on a theme that has been part of their music since the group began. They've always been one of the most nostalgic groups around, draping themselves in the visuals, styles, and sounds of the past while still staying modern. They've rarely seemed to be touched by the past on a personal level, but now perhaps age and experience have given them a reason to look back at their own lives and do a bit of summing up…

The acclaimed combination of Diego Fasolis and Swiss Radio present Camille Saint-Saëns’s Partsongs and Requiem Mass.
This is the only available recording of the Requiem Mass.
Saint-Saëns’s Requiem is a highly appealing work with beautiful and complex harmonies. There is plenty of colour, too – as one would expect from this inexhaustibly inventive opera composer – but also sincerity and gravitas.

This generous double disc survey of Saint-Saens' chamber music offers the listener over two hours of unalloyed pleasure and contains a judicious selection of works for various ensembles that range across his career - indeed the three sonatas for bassoon, clarinet and oboe respectively are very late pieces and were part of an intended series of such works for each member of the standard woodwind family, a project only curtailed by the composer's death in 1921.

Music enthusiasts who are not that much in favour of the music Saint Etienne make, usually say that they are just a modernised version of ABBA. I’m not that familiar with what the trio think about such a comparison, but I’d guess they might be even thankful. I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind that level of success and the financial benefits that come along with it. Ok, I might add to that, if you want to categorise Saint Etienne with ABBA, call them the thinking man’s ABBA. They are still one of the rare bands that are able to come up with perfect pop that makes sense, both musically and lyrically.