COLUMBIA MASTERWORKS 35162 SLEEVE IS IN GOOD CONDITION - LP IS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION RARE VINTAGE PIANO CONCERTOS Composed by CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Biography by Robert Cummings Camille Saint-Saëns was something of an anomaly among French composers of the nineteenth century in that he wrote in virtually all genres, including opera, symphonies, concertos, songs, sacred and secular choral music, solo piano, and chamber music. He was generally not a pioneer, though he did help to revive some earlier and largely forgotten dance forms, like the bourée and gavotte. He was a conservative who wrote many popular scores scattered throughout the various genres: the Piano Concerto No. 2, Symphony No. 3 ("Organ"), the symphonic poem Danse macabre, the opera Samson et Dalila, and probably his most widely performed work, The Carnival of The Animals. While he remained a composer closely tied to tradition and traditional forms in his later years, he did develop a more arid style, less colorful and, in the end, less appealing. He was also a poet and playwright of some distinction. selections include: PIANO CONCERTO No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. 29 Composition Description by John Palmer Published in 1875 in Paris, Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto in E flat Major, Op. 29, is dedicated to pianist Elie-Myriam Delaborde. Although all five of Saint-Saëns' concertos, to some extent, follow Viennese models, the Third is arguably the most traditional in its formal procedures. (There were few French models of the piano concerto available at the time.) Other aspects of the piece, however, make it innovative, and the keyboard writing betrays Saint-Saëns' assimilation of Liszt's style. and the FANTASIE "Africa", Op. 89 Africa, fantaisie for piano & orchestra in G minor, Op. 89 Composition Description by Joseph Stevenson Among the many destinations of Saint-Saëns' travels, North Africa was clearly the composer's favorite. In 1890 Saint-Saëns traveled to Ceylon, then to Alexandria and Cairo. While in Egypt, he composed Africa, a fantasy for piano and orchestra based on genuine North African sources. Saint-Saëns collected much of the region's indigenous music, often transcribing themes on the spot. In this manner he absorbed both the materials and techniques of North African music, which he eventually employed in dozens of his own works. CAPRICE-VALSE "Wedding Cake", Op. 76 Wedding Cake, caprice-valse for piano & strings in A flat major, Op. 76 Composition Description by James Reel Written as a nuptial tribute to pianist Caroline Montigny-Rémaury, Saint-Saëns' Wedding Cake (1885) for piano and strings is a slight but charming "caprice-valse" that's just a bit too big for the salon. The piano commences with a few sparkling cascades of notes that turn into a flighty waltz; the strings offer a more expansive, lilting tune, and the first third of this six-minute piece is simply an alternation of these two ideas. In the middle section, the piano misfires in starts and stops through several measures before it finally catches hold with brilliant passagework. The strings smooth things out; more explicitly waltz-like ideas return, and the piano now appropriates with gusto the strings' more developed theme from the first section. At the very end, the piano repeats its solo from the middle section; the piece ends not with fireworks, but with quietly tinkling utterances from the piano and a few almost offhanded pizzicati from the strings. RHAPSODIE d'Auvergne, Op. 73 Rapsodie d'Auvergne, for piano & orchestra in C major, Op. 73 performed by Philippe Entremont, Piano Biography by Joseph Stevenson Philippe Entremont is one of the world's leading pianists and a well-known conductor. He is particularly well known as a pianist for his performances in the early twentieth century repertory and music of the Classical era. and the L'orchestre Du Captole De Toulouse conducted by MICHEL PLASSON Biography by Robert Cummings Michel Plasson is one of the most important French conductors from the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He is well known for his interpretations of French opera, particularly those of Gounod and Massenet. He has also received praise for his work in the choral music of Duruflé and Fauré, and the orchestral works of Magnard, Ravel, and other French composers. He has not, however, limited himself to the French repertory, having conducted (and recorded) the Rachmaninov piano concertos with soloist Jean-Philippe Collard, the Brahms Schicksalslied, and works by Wagner and Verdi.

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