Saint-Saëns: Violin Concertos

 

Don't mistake my criticisms of this recording below for any lessening of enjoyment on my part. I relish hearing these performances, yet I could easily imagine another set of Camille Saint-Saëns' Violin Concertos coming along and displacing this one. And yet, I haven't found better as of yet, so perhaps I am sometimes too hard on this recording.

Some of my criticisms lay with Saint-Saëns too. To my ears, it is easy to hear why Violin Concerto no. 3 in B minor is the popular one among performers and audiences. Its musical argument is much more coherent across its runtime.

I actually have no problem with the composer's much briefer Violin Concerto no. 1 in A Major; after all, brevity is always appreciated by the listener. The musical themes are of high quality, where each are presented intelligently across the one-movement work. I sense, on the other hand, French violinist Philippe Graffin may be uncomfortable with its music. He neither goes all in with firm Romanticisms nor lithe, lyrical beauty. This makes the performer sound reticent as to where he wants this music to go.

But maybe this is how Philippe Graffin plays. He does not have that fat, full-bowed violin sound of an Itzhak Perlman, nor the silvery lyricism of a Joshua Bell or James Ehnes. This is middle-of-the-road violin application with a slight bent towards introspection and songfulness rather than blatantly showcasing virtuosity. And don't let such descriptions lead you towards thinking Graffin is anything but a top-rank violinist; this is just my mind working through my descriptions of the player within the music of Saint-Saëns.

Graffin sounds much more confident in where he wants to take the two longer concertos. But of course, through the 30 minutes of each of these two concertos, Saint-Saëns allows more variety across both orchestra and violin. The fourteen-minute opening movement of Violin Concerto no. 2 in C Major is almost too much, but does allow Graffin more opportunity for cadenza spotlights.

Here in the Second Violin Concerto, actually the composer's first chronologically despite the Opus number, the music sounds nearly Italianate, where the limelight is securely on the violin, with the orchestra really only coming to the fore in the breaks afforded to the soloist. I love the middle movement most of all, with the bardic addition of a harp to set the musical scene. Graffin excels, I think in part, because of the inherent songfulness of this sometimes melancholy and grim sounding movement.

Violin Concerto no. 3 in B minor is where it is at, though. Perhaps its success as absolute music lies in the brooding minor key, an aspect which makes a solid impact in the opening movement, although I think the elevated opinion of the work has more to do with the better integrated dialogue between violin and orchestra throughout the work. The violin sounds like the skill level is raised here as well, although I am sure all of these works can be tough for performers to some degree.

As with the Second Violin Concerto, I am rather taken with the second movement in this Third Violin Concerto most of all. The gently rocking songfulness is pure balm for the soul, plus the oboe player from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra here is just so succulent sounding, alongside a lovely wind section in totality. The ending solo violin harmonics duetting with clarinet is simply magical here.

I love the dramatic strife of the third movement as well, married with a perky finale in contrast, alongside some intimate string ensemble moments as well. Really, Saint-Saëns gives it his all here as a composition, plus the added brass make this one of the more effective sendoffs of the violin concertos. Of course, if the first two violin concertos were composed around his First Piano Concerto and first symphonies, this last Violin Concerto from the composer dates around the Fourth Piano Concerto and not too far before his famous Organ Symphony, making this work a mature musical conception in comparison.

Despite expert playing from Philippe Graffin, I think it may be the excellent contributions of Martyn Brabbins leading the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, in excellent Hyperion sonics, which elevates this recording amongst its competitors as a set. The more recent recordings from Clamagirand, Prunaru, and Ricci are generally let down by their orchestral contributions in comparison. That leaves the classic Ulf Hoelscher with Pierre Dervaux and the New Philharmonia Orchestra from 1977 on EMI as the main competitor, not to mention the many individual concertos performed singly on other recordings, particularly the Third Violin Concerto. Of course, Hoelscher offers the smaller violin concertante extras across 2CDs, whereas this Hyperion release fits all three violin concertos neatly onto one disc without any of the extras.  

 

 

Works
Violin Concerto 1 in A Major, op. 20 (13.37)
Violin Concerto 2 in C Major, op. 58 (31.30)
Violin Concerto 3 in B minor, op. 61 (30.17)

Soloist
Philippe Graffin, violin

Ensembles
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins, conductor

Label: Hyperion
Year: 1999
Total Timing: 75.41

 

 

 

Despite enjoying this recording, I do think another could come along and supplant it. 25 years have passed, so maybe my thoughts are too tough on this performance, where it truly ranks as top-of-the-line.

Nevertheless, this remains an excellent choice as a set of all three violin concertos from Saint-Saëns.

Plus you can start building your Hyperion Romantic Violin Concerto collection starting right here with Volume 1!

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Saint-Saëns recordings HERE!