Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921): Piano Concerto #2 (opening)

[ellesmithfagan]

@ellesmithfagan He loved his wife and sons, but both sons died tragically a few months apart in toddler days and he blamed his wife for the falling death of the second son and simply walked away from his wife while they were on a vacation and never came back. They formally separated but never divorced. I think that losing his father to death as an infant deprived him of something in the power for a normal personal life. However, he lived happily, enjoyed friendships and died at 82 I think.

[mobruelle]

great post. What a historical treasure.

[Flextones]

Thanks for posting this. Camille was the last composer/pianist Romantic to record. This is beautiful. I have tried to read through some of his work at the piano. It is difficult and makes me feel like an amatuer.

[hreichgott]

<3 thank you for posting this!

[nleguellec]

Saint Saens really was the last "real" romantic, and the only one ever to be recorded.

[keman25]

This recording shows that the interpretations played today are often completely overdone. The notes come from the heart, and not from the intellect.

[lovesGenet]

I didn't know this existed .Quelle surpris et le son est marveilleuse pour les temps. I wonder if there is more. He must have been adv in age but the spirit ,the joy is there.

[keelan111]

He plays like a musician who, by age 10, could play all of the beethoven sonatas by memory.

[tfgoingwest]

While I admittedly prefer this piece to be played a bit slower and more dramatically, one cannot fail to be awed by Saint-Saens's virtuoisty....like, seriously. Wow.

[gnolti]

One of my two favorite piano concertos by SS, this one in particular for its unusual retro quality -- almost a 19th century neoclassicism, and a loving satire of Bach. And how great to hear the man play it himself.

[predoje]

Thank you very much!!! Do you have other muvments?

[d60944]

No, this is all S-S recorded of his own concerto. I have posted a complete performance of the concerto by Arthur de Greef though - who worked with S-S on the concerto.

[DeadJerker]

Good Lord. A YouTube video on which the comments aren't all along the lines of "OMFG LOL you suck yer a fag". Have I stumbled into an alternate universe?

[Cherodar]

Isn't this more a truncated version of the whole first movement rather than just the opening, as the title and description allege? In any case, I've noticed that the old composers who were recent enough to leave a few recordings, such as Saint-Saëns, Sarasate, and Rachmaninoff, generally tend to play their pieces faster and less "gushily" than most modern musicians, and are also generally take the printed score less literally (i.e. they make liberal cuts and changes).

[AulicExclusiva]

The playing is wonderful indeed! Not at all mitigated and dry as Harold Schonberg alledged. Then again, he probably never heard a marvelous transfer like this one. Fantastic.

[marcxopoco]

Harold Shonberg was tone deaf.

What a pompous ass he was.

[gerardbedecarter]

There is a piano roll version of this, also played by the composer, in a Sydney collection, although I do not have a transfer of it. Even piano roll "haters" agree that they accurately show pianists' "mannerisms" By "mannerisms" I mean melody-delaying & melody anticipation; and arpeggiata, that is, arpeggiating (rolling or breaking)chords where not so marked for reasons other than the limitations of an insufficiently large hand. Saint-Saens was a confirmed melody-delayer as his rolls show.

[marcxopoco]

gerard, you are in error.

Chords are broken so that the overtone series is brought into play and the best resonance of the piano is gotten.

You have obviously never played the piano.

[gerardbedecarter]

I do not dispute your second sentence which is entirely consistent with what I wrote.

[otterhouse]

Is this from the new Ward Marston transfer?

It sounds wow-free...

-----------------------------

Rolf, Netherlands.

I am a collector of classical 78's and lp's

Click "otterhouse" above to see (and hear!)

some of my collection.

[stienwayz]

What a treat to hear this! Thanks =)

[BachFong11]

I can't believe it. Is this really him?

[jmdez]

Fantastic! If he only recorded Carnival of the Animals!