Recommending Saint-Saens

[amo]

Couldn't agree more - especially the dark cello and piano sonata. Thrilling music with a stunning second movement.

There was an excellent performance of the Piano Concerto No.2 at this year's Proms with Benjamin Grosvenor. I'm fond of this piece, which is heard fairly frequently, but the one I would like to hear in a live performance is No. 4. which does not deserve to be neglected.

Saint-Saens wrote some excellent chamber music, notably his Sextet, the two Piano Quartets,the 1st Violin sonata and the Cello Sonata. He is often said to have been a facile composer, in the way that Mendelssohn once was. but there's nothing trivial in these works.

[Roehre]

Roehre and Stanfordian,

Apologies for saying piano quartets in my post, it was the piano trios that I meant.

There is a very beautiful piano quartet too: in B-flat opus 41. Als recommended

[MickyD]

A superb HIP recording of the Organ Symphony and the Fourth Piano Concerto recorded by Les Siècles on period instruments, well worth hearing:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saint-Saens-Symphonie-Organ-Piano-Concerto/dp/B003Z420JC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356630284&sr=8-1

[Barbirollians]

Fremaux's Symphony No 3 .

[LeMartinPecheur]

Fremaux's Symphony No 3 .

Mehta's is pretty good too - it was the stereo LP my dad bought to show off his first (and only) stereo hi-fi. I've now got his LP (and a CD transfer) to put with my own old Fremaux LP from student days

The first works of S-S I heard live were woodwind sonatas at uni, most frequently that for oboe, played by good amateurs. I'd read that S-S was a very feeble, unfashionable composer and was quite worried when I couldn't really spot this for myself

[visualnickmos]

Thanks for the wealth of information here. I much appreciate it. I have ordered a fine String Quartets CD recommended previously on the Naxos label. And I will certainly follow up some of these recommendations.
I hope some of you fellow Saint-Saens fans will listen to Christine Croshaw's disc too - its such poetic piano playing, and well chosen repertoire too.

If you can, the CD of the string quartets, (including the Fauré sq) by the Miami String Quartet is well worth looking out for. The Naxos CDs of Saint-Saens' chamber music are great, too.

[Barbirollians]

Mehta's is pretty good too - it was the stereo LP my dad bought to show off his first (and only) stereo hi-fi. I've now got his LP (and a CD transfer) to put with my own old Fremaux LP from student days

The first works of S-S I heard live were woodwind sonatas at uni, most frequently that for oboe, played by good amateurs. I'd read that S-S was a very feeble, unfashionable composer and was quite worried when I couldn't really spot this for myself

I don't have that one . I also had on tape two EMI Eminence versions one with Serge Baudo and one terribly reverberant one from Liverpool Cathedral conducted by Andrew Litton - which whilst I imagine would have been great fun to have heard in concert was terribly blurred by the reverberation.

On CD I also have a 1966 Martinon from Warner Classics which is terrific and splendidly French .

[Rosie55]

Just listening to this pianist's latest CD of Faure, following on from this Saint-Saens thread. She is a very fine player of French music.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Music-Gabriel-Faur%C3%A9-Christine-Croshaw/dp/B01FTSLASI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1464711938&sr=8-3&keywords=croshaw+faure