Customer Reviews

Saint-Saens: Piano Works

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD appears to be the only broad single-disc selection of piano works by Camille Saint-Saens available. Saint-Saens was a gifted, virtuoso-level pianist who wrote a great deal of piano music throughout his long and productive career. Based on my reading, the production is uneven so a compilation like this would be great for fans interested in hearing more. Despite my anticipation on receiving this disc, I am disappointed by the result. The performer, American pianist Anton Nel, provides a technically very competent but also profoundly unspirited rendition of this music. The lack of expressive variation in the tempo and feeling in the overall emotion in the playing detracts from the music. Nel is apparently chained to his metronome. At one point, in listening to the left-hand Bourree (track 6), I was actually surprised when he took a bit of freedom and injected some rubato. Aside from the decreased expressivity of the music, you can also criticize the approach to tempo on performance practice ground: a 19th-century pianist like Saint-Saens I think would be positively shocked by Nel's literal approach. Probably Saint-Saens' most famous piano compositions are the Etude in the form of a waltz and the Allegro appassionata. I know both pieces well from a very fine recording by Ceclie Ousset, who I think provides a much more interesting rendition of the music. But enough Nel bashing.

The music is generally pretty interesting. Besides the Etude and Allegro appassionata mentioned above, I found compositions like the left-hand Elegy and the Gavotte attractive and enjoyed listening and getting to know them. That said, I was at a loss as to why works like the early Bagatelles (minor music written when Saint-Saens was 20), the Alceste Caprice or the Rhapsodie d'Auvergne were included. Saint-Saens is an uneven composer, but at his best, he wrote inspired music. I have to think better selections than those four works could have been identified in selecting the repertory here.

The liner notes are generic and provide no information on the dating or stylistic placement within Saint-Saens' career of any of the music. As a public service, I've listed the works below along with dates. That said, recorded sound is very good. The value of a Saint-Saens compilation and the good sound are mixed with uninspired pianism and inadequate disc materials to come to a three-star rating.

Etude in forme de valse, op. 72 (1877)
Bagatelle in F & Eb (both 1855)
Mazurka no. 2 (1871)
Gavotte in c minor (1871)
Bouree for the left hand, from Op. 135 (1912)
Allegro appassionata (1874)
Elegy for the left hand, from Op. 135 (1912)
Toccata, op. 72 1884)
Caprice on airs de ballet d'Alceste (1867)
Rhapsodie d'Auvergne (1884)