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Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies / Soustrot, Malmö Symphony
Naxos

Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies / Soustrot, Malmö Symphony

$35.99

Details

Composer
SAINT-SAËNS, CAMILLE
Artist
Soustrot
Format
CD
Label
Naxos
Released
Jun 11, 2021
Catalog #
8503301
UPC
747313330133

About

Saint-Saens wrote five symphonies between the years 1850 and 1886. The cycle began with the Mozart-influenced Symphony in A but as a precocious composer of 17 he wrote his first numbered symphony, a work much admired by Berlioz and Gounod. He progressed to his most popular piece in the genre, the ground-breaking Symphony No. 3 with its inclusion of organ and piano. This critically admired cycle includes a sequence of atmospheric and dramatic symphonic poems, including Phaeton and the ever-popular Danse macabre.

REVIEWS:

The standard reference versions for these works have been Martinon’s EMI (now Warner) recordings, but Soustrot’s are different enough to justify duplication. In the First Symphony, particularly, Soustrot adopts a very slow, dreamy tempo for the Adagio, but it works very well, particularly in contrast to the bold and brassy finale which follows without a break. Soustrot correctly highlights the adventurous writing for the harps, but never tastelessly, and some listeners may feel that the interpretation finds additional expressive depth in music often denigrated as merely sentimental. It’s good to hear it played with no apologies.

In the Second Symphony Soustrot comes closer to Martinon in terms of timing, but there’s no denying the extra clarity and nimbleness of the Malmö ensemble as compared to the old French National Radio and Television Orchestra for EMI. Soustrot’s exciting and rhythmically sharp reading of Phaéton makes a welcome bonus. This is unquestionably one of the best recordings of the piece, with an especially effective thunderbolt as Zeus hurls the hapless chariot (of the sun) driver from his seat. Attractively natural sonics round out a very promising start to this new series.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz; in an earlier review of the CD release of Symphonies 1 & 2)

Marc Soustrot has some very good ideas about how the music should go. Soustrot prefers urgency even at the expense of some occasionally blurred articulation. The very slow tempo for the introduction followed by that agitated allegro highlights the broad range of contrasts typical of the performance more generally. The organ, excellently played by Carl Adam Landström, is very well balanced by the Naxos engineers. All told, this is a very fine performance of the Thrid.

– ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz; in an earlier review of the CD release of Symphony No. 3)

Tracklist 24 tracks

  1. Disc 1
  2. 1 I. Adagio - Allegro 08:45
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Adagio - Allegro
    Duration
    08:45
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  3. 2 II. Marche - Scherzo: Allegretto scherzando 04:44
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Marche - Scherzo: Allegretto scherzando
    Duration
    04:44
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  4. 3 III. Adagio 12:29
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Adagio
    Duration
    12:29
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  5. 4 IV. Finale: Allegro maestoso 07:43
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Finale: Allegro maestoso
    Duration
    07:43
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  6. 5 I. Allegro marcato - Più allegro - Tempo primo - Più allegro - Tempo primo - Allegro appassionato 07:21
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Allegro marcato - Più allegro - Tempo primo - Più allegro - Tempo primo - Allegro appassionato
    Duration
    07:21
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  7. 6 II. Adagio 03:51
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Adagio
    Duration
    03:51
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  8. 7 III. Scherzo: Presto - Un poco meno mosso 04:28
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Scherzo: Presto - Un poco meno mosso
    Duration
    04:28
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  9. 8 IV. Prestissimo - Andantino - Tempo primo 07:20
    Track
    8
    Title
    IV. Prestissimo - Andantino - Tempo primo
    Duration
    07:20
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  10. 9 Phaeton, Op. 39 09:25
    Track
    9
    Title
    Phaeton, Op. 39
    Duration
    09:25
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  11. Disc 2
  12. 1 I. Adagio - Allegro moderato - 10:53
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Adagio - Allegro moderato -
    Duration
    10:53
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  13. 2 I. Poco adagio 10:24
    Track
    2
    Title
    I. Poco adagio
    Duration
    10:24
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Performer
    Carl Adam Landstrom
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  14. 3 II. Allegro moderato - Presto - 07:45
    Track
    3
    Title
    II. Allegro moderato - Presto -
    Duration
    07:45
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Performer
    Carl Adam Landstrom
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  15. 4 II. Maestoso - Allegro 07:48
    Track
    4
    Title
    II. Maestoso - Allegro
    Duration
    07:48
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Performer
    Carl Adam Landstrom
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  16. 5 I. Poco adagio - Allegro vivace 07:55
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Poco adagio - Allegro vivace
    Duration
    07:55
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  17. 6 II. Larghetto 09:56
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. Larghetto
    Duration
    09:56
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  18. 7 III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace 03:01
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Scherzo: Allegro vivace
    Duration
    03:01
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  19. 8 IV. Allegro molto - Presto 05:38
    Track
    8
    Title
    IV. Allegro molto - Presto
    Duration
    05:38
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  20. 9 Le rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31 08:19
    Track
    9
    Title
    Le rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31
    Duration
    08:19
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  21. Disc 3
  22. 1 I. Largo - Allegro 11:16
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Largo - Allegro
    Duration
    11:16
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  23. 2 II. Molto vivace 06:09
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Molto vivace
    Duration
    06:09
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  24. 3 III. Moderato, assai serioso 12:22
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Moderato, assai serioso
    Duration
    12:22
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  25. 4 IV. Poco allegretto 11:53
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Poco allegretto
    Duration
    11:53
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  26. 5 La Jeunesse d'Hercule, Op. 50 18:27
    Track
    5
    Title
    La Jeunesse d'Hercule, Op. 50
    Duration
    18:27
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot
  27. 6 Danse Macabre, Op. 40 07:18
    Track
    6
    Title
    Danse Macabre, Op. 40
    Duration
    07:18
    Composer
    Camille Saint-Saëns
    Ensemble
    Malmö Symphony Orchestra
    Conductor
    Marc Soustrot