Camille Saint-Saens: Melodies avec orchestre
Sheet Music

SKU: NX.ALPHA273

By Markus Poschner, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Tassis Christoyannis, and Yann Beuron. By Camille Saint-Saens. Country of Origin: Austria. Classical. Listening CD. Published by Alpha (NX.ALPHA273).

Although the turn of the twentieth century marked the golden age of French song, the genre was generally accompanied on the piano and only rarely orchestrated by its composers. But Camille Saint-Saens, a great lover of poetry, was also a champion of the orchestrated melodie and the French coloristic style. He also wanted to counterbalance the overwhelming popularity of operatic arias in concert programmes. An immense admirer of Victor Hugo, Saint-Saens set many of his poems to music, including L'Enlevement, Reverie, and Le Pas d'armes du Roi Jean, regarded as one of his masterpieces. Exoticism and a certain sense of the supernatural run through such songs as Danse macabre, one of the most popular pieces of classical music, but always heard nowadays either in its version for orchestra alone or performed by a singer with piano accompaniment. Of the twenty-five melodies with orchestra listed in the catalogue of Saint-Saens, nineteen are recorded here, all of them for the first time! With interpreters of the calibre of Yann Beuron and Tassis Christoyannis, the words are perfectly served here and the composer's coloristic talents heard from the very first bars. This release of world premiere recordings is a genuine event that enables us to rediscover a whole segment of the history of vocal music, a renaissance made possible by the Fondation Bru Zane.

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Listening CDs are traditional music recordings. Listening CDs make a great educational supplement - hear exceptional professionals play the music you're learning! Or, just enjoy listening to the music you love.