Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals; Septet

Camille Saint-Saens (Composer), Frank Braley (Performer), Michel Dalberto (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Frank Braley, Michel Dalberto
• Composer: Camille Saint-Saens
• Audio CD (January 13, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Classics
• ASIN: B0000DIGJ7
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,116 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #76 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Brass > French Horn

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This is a delightful record. It brings together some of Europe's best musicians for a program of primarily unfamiliar works by Saint-Saëns which show him from his most playful, humorous side, and they clearly have a grand time. The only well-known work on the program, "The Carnival of the Animals," is a portrait gallery juxtaposing the familiar with the exotic, and succeeds, by purely musical means, in evoking the salient characteristics of each creature with keen observation, psychological acumen, and benevolent wit. The Lion struts in a regal march, the Asses bray, the Birds twitter; the flute gives the Cuckoo's drooping thirds great variety of expression, the Aquarium shimmers etherially. Saint-Saëns, a brilliant pianist, even pokes fun at himself in a parody of two pianists practicing exercises in unison or contrary motion, but always slightly out of sync. He also did not scruple to borrow from his contemporaries for utmost effect: Tortoises shuffle to an Offenbach can-can, the Elephant dances to Berlioz's Valse de Sylphs, the Finale, borrowing from Rossini's Barber of Seville, is grandly operatic. "The Swan," the work's most familiar and only serious movement, is performed beautifully, with a touching, unsentimental simplicity. The "Fantasy for Violin and Harp," a bravura piece for both instruments, alternates brilliant passages with dreamy, nostalgic lyricism. Three cello pieces are slow, songful, and passionate; the last is a very successful transcription of the famous aria from "Samson and Delilah." All these works are played to the hilt for virtuosity, color, atmosphere, and expression. The Septet is another fun piece--whimsical, mischievous, comic. Everybody has lots of solos, especially the trumpet, whose virtuoso part mixes mock heroism with baroque flourishes. The Menuet is a courtly dance, the Trio a delicate love song; the slow movement is somber, the Finale a carefree romp. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and Sentimental Chamber Music, March 21, 2008

By 

Lawrence A. Schenbeck (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals; Septet (Audio CD)

I've owned this CD for a couple of years. It's terrific, full of musical wit and also endowed with Saint-Saens' phenomenal gift for melody. The chamber music scoring really brings you much closer to the music of The Carnival of the Animals than you get with the traditional orchestral version.

My favorites on this disc, however, are the Fantasy for Violin and Harp and the Septet, op. 65. The Fantasy, 12 minutes long, feels like a completely spontaneous outpouring of varied musical ideas, taking you on a whirlwind tour of the emotions from nostalgia through whimsy to romantic intrigue. Seriously. May seem like Romantic-Era fluff to some ears, but it always floats my boat. Likewise the Septet is both a showcase for the composer's craft and a delightful romp for the instrumentalists involved.

The recording is top-notch too. Clean and bright, very French. But I wonder if anyone else out there is disturbed by the extraneous noise in track 17, the Prayer for Cello and Piano? Sounds like audience? Page turns? Traffic outside the hall? Engineer chatter? Slightly distracting, especially in the first minute or so.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quirky!, July 12, 2007

By 

Diana Weiss (Buckingham, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals; Septet (Audio CD)

This recording of an old favorite is quite quirky...and that's what makes these fun pieces REALLY fun! The small ensemble brings intimacy to the work. My favorite was "Pianists" - hilarious.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars lovely animals, July 6, 2010

By 

Renato Baserga (Ardmore, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals; Septet (Audio CD)

the carnival of the animals is a delightful trifle by a clever composer. It's funny, it's pleasant music and one does not have to agonize about the state of the world every time he or she listens to music. The performance by Capucon et al. is a very good one, perhaops not the best, but a very good one.It has an additional advantage, a CD jacket that is absolutely charming.