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Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Camille Saint-Saëns - Piano Quartet; Piano Quintet; Septet; Sonatas (The Nash Ensemble)


Information

Composer: Camille Saint-Saëns

CD1:
  1. Septet in E flat major, for trumpet, piano, string quartet & double bass, Op. 65: 1. Préambule
  2. Septet in E flat major, for trumpet, piano, string quartet & double bass, Op. 65: 2. Menuet
  3. Septet in E flat major, for trumpet, piano, string quartet & double bass, Op. 65: 3. Intermède
  4. Septet in E flat major, for trumpet, piano, string quartet & double bass, Op. 65: 4. Gavotte et Final
  5. Tarentelle in A minor, for flute, clarinet & orchestra, Op. 6
  6. Bassoon Sonata in G major, Op. 168: 1. Allegretto moderato
  7. Bassoon Sonata in G major, Op. 168: 2. Allegro scherzando
  8. Bassoon Sonata in G major, Op. 168: 3. Molto adagio - Allegro moderato
  9. Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4: 1. Allegretto
  10. Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4: 2. Andante maestoso ma con moto
  11. Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4: 3. Poco allegro più tosto moderato
  12. Piano Quartet in B flat major, Op. 4: 4. Allegro
CD2:
  1. Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14: 1. Allegro moderato e maestoso
  2. Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14: 2. Andante sostenuto
  3. Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14: 3. Presto
  4. Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 14: 4. Allegro assai, ma tranquillo
  5. Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166: 1. Andantino
  6. Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166: 2. Allegretto
  7. Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166: 3. Molto allegretto
  8. Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167: 1. Allegretto
  9. Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167: 2. Allegro animato
  10. Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167: 3. Lento
  11. Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op. 167: 4. Molto allegro - Allegretto
  12. Caprice sur des airs Danois et Russes, for flute, oboe, clarinet & piano, Op. 79

The Nash Ensemble
Ian Brown, piano
Mark David, trumpet
Marianne Thorsen, violin
David Adams, violin
Benjamin Nabarro, violin
Lawrence Power, viola
Paul Watkins, cello
Duncan McTier, double bass
Philippa Davies, flute
Gareth Hulse, oboe
Richard Hosford, clarinet
Ursula Levaux, bassoon

Date: 2004
Label: Hyperion
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67431/2

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Review

Saint-Saëns’s chamber music fares better in the concert hall than the recording studio, perhaps because musicians tend to listen less to academic name-calling (‘conservative’, ‘too prolific’) than to the music itself. The three late wind sonatas in particular have received far fewer recordings than their status as repertoire staples deserves. Try the kinky-Baroque first movement of the Oboe Sonata, jauntily phrased by Gareth Hulse, or theanimato second of the Clarinet Sonata, garbed in rich Mozartian cloth by Richard Hosford. My own favourite is the Bassoon Sonata, for its fresh and gentle wit and skirting of cliché: Ursula Leveaux does it proud, with especially luscious tone in the opening Allegretto.

Surprises are thinner on the ground in the earlier works but none is less than, to echo Ravel’s assessment, ‘finely put together’. Hummability quotient is high in the Piano Quartet and Quintet, and off the scale in the Septet. The late Lionel Salter used to complain in these pages that recordings of the Septet tend to sound like a trumpet concerto; not this one. If you employ hit artists like Maurice André they will tend to hog the microphone but, happily, Mark David is a more sensitive soul who has fully imbibed the Nash’s joyous spirit of corporate music-making, and Hyperion’s engineers have placed him at a respectable distance. If anything it is Ian Brown’s piano that takes centre-stage, and that’s no bad thing except in the extensive fugal finales to the Piano Quartet and Quintet where Saint-Saëns, most unusually, seems to over-run himself.

I might return less frequently to the Caprice and Tarantelle for all Philippa Davies’s sparkling contributions, but really, this is a set of sheer delight: let’s hear it for imaginative conservatism.

-- Peter Quantrill, Gramophone

More reviews:
BBC Music Magazine PERFORMANCE: ***** / SOUND: *****
MusicWeb International RECORDING OF THE MONTH

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Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include his concertos for violin, piano and cello, his 3rd symphony, Danse macabre and The Carnival of the Animals. Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy, making his concert debut at the age of ten. He held only one teaching post for less than five years. His students included Gabriel Fauré.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Saint-Sa%C3%ABns

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London-based Nash Ensemble is a chamber orchestra consisting of 11 regular members, though their number can vary widely according to the work performed. The group's repertory is broad, but favors modern works by English composers. Founded in 1964 by Amelia Freedman, its longtime artistic director, the Nash Ensemble took its name from the famous Nash terraces in London, designed by architect John Nash.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nash-ensemble-mn0001914151

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