Saint-Saëns: Chamber Music for Wind Instruments

Ensemble Villa Musica (Artist, Performer), Camille Saint-Saens (Composer)

Product Details

• Performer: Ensemble Villa Musica
• Composer: Camille Saint-Saens
• Audio CD (October 23, 2007)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Md&G Records
• ASIN: B00000JISD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #170,609 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Track Listings

1. Sonata for oboe & piano in D major, Op. 166: 1. Andantino

2. Sonata for oboe & piano in D major, Op. 166: 2. Pastorale

3. Sonata for oboe & piano in D major, Op. 166: 3. Molto Allegro

4. Sonata for clarinet & piano in E flat major, Op. 167: 1. Allegretto

5. Sonata for clarinet & piano in E flat major, Op. 167: 2. Allegro animato

6. Sonata for clarinet & piano in E flat major, Op. 167: 3. Lento

7. Sonata for clarinet & piano in E flat major, Op. 167: 4. Molto allegro - Allegretto

8. Sonata for bassoon & piano, in G major, Op. 168: Allegretto moderato

9. Sonata for bassoon & piano, in G major, Op. 168: Allegro scherzando

10. Sonata for bassoon & piano, in G major, Op. 168: Molto adagio - Allegro moderato

11. Romance for flute (or violin) & orchestra (or piano) in D flat major, Op. 37

12. Caprice on Danish & Russian Airs, for flute, oboe, clarinet & piano, Op. 79

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite chamber-music discs , January 2, 2005

By	blue sky basin (Colorado) - See all my reviews

Saens is a masterful composer of chamber music, and this *magical* disc is the absolute summit of his work in this field. If you've enjoyed his piano trios and violin and cello sonatas, you definitely have a treat in store for you here!

Right near the end of his life, Saens wrote the three woodwind sonatas found on this disc -- one each for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. This is truly ravishing music that even those new to classical music will find instantly appealing. In fact, this is one of the discs I reach for when I'm persuading a skeptical listener of all the beautiful and even sensual qualties to be found in "classical music."

In this case, perhaps listening to the audio samples is the strongest argument. The oboe and clarinet sonatas are especially appealing, but "newbies" should go straight to the fantasy for flute -- breathtaking!

MD&G (Dabringhaus and Grim) is a luxury-class German label equivalent to the UK's Hyperion or Chandos. And the Villa Musica Ensemble has made dozens of high-quality chamber-music recordings for them, much as the Nash ensemble has done for Hyperion.

So buy with complete confidence. If anything, Saens seems to have gotten better with age, and these works I dare say are quite possibly the finest music he ever wrote. And if you enjoy this -- and you will -- consider following up with these two discs:

Sharon Bezaly plays French music (including Saens) for flute
(ASIN B00007E8W5)

Saens' complete chamber music for piano and winds -- 2-cd set
(ASIN B000003V7G)

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5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful record, February 26, 2008

By	DH Dixon "whitespeck" (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

These works of Saint Saens are ideal for grammophone record listening. They always sound marvellous and compelling. They are relatively short and concise, so they don't suffer from sonata form fatigue on repeated listening as a lot of 19th century stuff does. But they are also deep and classical and richly lyrical. The performances and recordings here are excellent. MDG is becoming a favourite record company for me. The only criticism I would make is: why aren't the pieces for trombone or horn included? Even so the disc is around 60 minutes long and is superb.

4 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good buy, March 12, 2000

By	Michael Ray (Northampton, MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I ordered this I was kinda weary as to weather it would be good or not. After all, buying a CD that you don't know much about is kind of risky, especially since no one had reviewed it yet. However, I was quite suprised. The recording is very high quality. I would definitely reccoment this CD to anyone looking for a recording of Sait Saens' music.