7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ANOTHER GREAT COLLECTION FROM THE GREAT FRENCHMAN, 3 Mar 2001
By C. McGovern "Piano Dude" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Complete Piano and Orchestral Works (Tacchino, Kemmer) (Audio CD)
Just as Vox's 2-CD packaging of the complete Saint-Saens works for violin/orch. & cello/orch. gives you a solid third of this man's oevure, this 3 disc set of all of the existing works for piano/orch., plus "La muse et le poete" (a violin/cello/orch. rhapsody that didn't fit on the other VoxBox collection), Fantaisie (duet for harp/violin) and 2 horn/orch. works (plus one more oddity that I'll get to in a minute) gives you everything else of Saint-Saens' that wasn't nailed-down! What a bargain for a near-lifetime of artistic achievement! The performances on this disc of the concertos may not be the most solid (although I do like it better than the Phillipe Entremont version that's still available in some areas), but the forces are good enough to make this more than passable for a budget label release. Now the most extraordinary discovery for me on this collection is a piece titled "Cypres et Lauriers," for Organ and Orchesrta, and believe me, I'm glad to have the CD just for this! Even though it falls short of fulfilling one's craving to hear a re-creation of Symphony #3, it's a fine piece for its own sake, and virtually impossible to find on any other recording, so this is the perfect incentive for ownership.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joy and glory, exuberance and pristine musicality!, 12 Feb 2007
By Hiram Gomez Pardo - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Complete Piano and Orchestral Works (Tacchino, Kemmer) (Audio CD)
A fair revival of his musical legacy has come, at last. The genius, figure and even melodic brightness of Camile Saint Saens is still distant to be universally accepted. "Why cannot we" , he once said, "understand that in art, as in everything else there are some things to which we must not accustom ourselves."
Because somehow, fortunate or unfortunately for him, these were years of tremendous transition state in all orders. A new world was emerging, where bitter hopes were born from the expected Progress utopia; the art was expanding as a huge tree, where the innovative sounds were in the light of day. And Saint Saens, being an isolated man, did not seem to realize the world far from being attached to musical conservatism, was on the other hand, searching and enriching with new proposals. In transition epochs, the classic mood immersed into the chamber music genre remained in abeyance, because literally, there was not time for his works grew up and be part of the collective memory, falling into oblivion very soon.
On the other hand Berlioz's expansive wave, was extremely huge to maintain mesmerized many generations of French listeners, people or critics. The compass pointed out to Austrian and German lands where Mahler, Wagner and Bruckner were the most eminent composers and its musical legacy was being revised and delighted for outer audiences. Russia would bring another name Stravisnky who would become the future embodiment of new musical proposals, and additionally, Claude Achilles Debussy was establishing new landscapes with his impressionistic compositions; the world was in a boiling point process in all orders. All these factors blended, shadowed and froze many Opus of this composer.
So, in the light of the elapsed years, his music has deserved major attention, according the great number of new recordings in the market. And this is a good new, although a whole century was required to revisit and open the dusty pages of his works.
That's why this album fits as ring to finger, it allows to enjoy and appreciate with major objectivity, the splendor and lyric exuberance of many neglected works. Far beyond his classic trilogy Carnival of animals, Third Symphony and his second Piano Concert.
On the other hand the excel pianism of Gabriel Tachino in these piano concerts is worthyto hear and although in the second concerto we have several options to choose (Emil Gilels or Jeanne Marie Darre) and the Fourth there is no version that can match with Casadesus- Bernstein), Tachino gives us memorable set.
In this unknown chamber music genre, you will find treasured pages that will be part of you at the recent future.
4.0 out of 5 stars
ANOTHER GOOD COLLECTION FROM THE GREAT FRENCHMAN, 3 Mar 2001
By C. McGovern "Piano Dude" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Complete Piano and Orchestral Works (Tacchino, Kemmer) (Audio CD)
Just as Vox's 2-CD packaging of the complete Saint-Saens works for violin/orch. & cello/orch. gives you a solid third of this man's oevure, this 3 disc set of most of the existing works for piano/orch.(Only thing that's missing is the Allegro Appassionata, which is a brief passage that usually runs about 5 mins.), plus "La muse et le poete" (a violin/cello/orch. rhapsody that didn't fit on the other VoxBox collection), Fantaisie (duet for harp/violin) and 2 horn/orch. works (plus one more oddity that I'll get to in a minute) gives you everything else of Saint-Saens' that wasn't nailed-down! What a bargain for a near-lifetime of artistic achievement! The performances on this disc of the concertos may not be the most solid (although I do like it better than the Phillipe Entremont version that's still available in some areas), but the forces are good enough to make this more than passable for a budget label release. I kind of also wish the sound could be improved as well--This is analog material from the 70's, but I've heard recordings from that period with much more fidelity. Now the most extraordinary discovery for me on this collection is a piece titled "Cypres et Lauriers," for Organ and Orchesrta, and believe me, I'm glad to have the CD just for this! Even though it falls short of fulfilling one's craving to hear a re-creation of Symphony #3, it's a fine piece for its own sake, and virtually impossible to find on any other recording, so this is (at least for me) the perfect incentive for ownership.