Camille Saint-Saëns

 

Camille Saint-Saëns
1835-1921


Saint-Saëns was a French Romantic composer. Generally regarded as conservative in regards to music, his long life straddling the turn of the century put him at odds with changing musical tides and 20th-Century modernism. In this regard, the time period puts him alongside fellow French conservative Charles Gounod, and he was famously a teacher of Gabriel Fauré.

While Saint-Saëns has a fair number of operas to his name, I would be hard put to say I was familiar with any of them. Otherwise, his work in concertante, keyboard, vocal, chamber, and orchestral music is what I know from him the most. His short career as a symphonist compounded the notable lack of 19th Century French composers in that genre, especially following the burst of creative energies from Berlioz.

If I had to put my finger on his most popular music remembered today, it must be his last symphony, the programmatic chamber piece Carnival of the Animals, a few tone poems, and a couple of concertos; perhaps even some chamber works as well.

Aside from these few popular pieces, I am afraid his music is much poo-poohed today, although I bear a closer fellowship in music listening to the French Romantics as opposed to the later Impressionists and Modernists of that country.

Recordings and reviews currently on hand
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Recordings
1982: Symphony 2 & Suite
1996: Symphony 3 (Fremaux)
1997: String Quartet
1999: Violin Concertos
2000: Choral Music
2001: Cello Sonata
2001: Piano Concertos
2004: Requiem
2004: Symphony 3 (Munch)
2005: Cello Concertos
2005: Christmas Oratorio
2005: Piano Trios
2007: Symphony 3 (Maazel)
2009: Piano Quartets
2011: Prix de Rome
2012: Orchestral Works
2013: Le Deluge
2013: Piano Quintet
2018: Orchestral Suites
2019: Ascanio
2021: Symphony 1 & 2
2021: Symphony 3 (Kantorow)
2021: Wind Ensemble Works
2022: Ballet Music

Recording Roundups

Chamber Music Roundup
Choral Music Roundup
Concerto Roundup
Orchestral Roundup