The Hyperion Romantic Piano Concerto series

Volume 27: Saint-Sans complete works for Piano and Orchestra

Of the myriad Piano Concertos composed in the second half of the 19th century all but a handful
are forgotten. The survivors are played with a regularity that borders on the monotonous: pianists,
promoters and record companies play it safe and opt for the familiar. Even a masterpiece can
become an unwelcome guest, especially when subjected to an unremarkable outing by yet another
indifferent player, as happens so frequently today. How refreshing, then, to have the dust brushed
off forgotten specimens of 19th century piano concertos and rendered clean and polished for
inspection again. Refreshing and rewarding, for they are exactly the sort of pieces that make one
wonder why we are forced to live off such a limited concerto diet. How is it that such appealing,
well-crafted, imaginative works with their high spirits and luscious tunes could have vanished from
the repertoire? It is time for those who promote and play piano music to be more adventurous
and imaginative in their programming.
1991 J eremy Nicholas




Charles Camille Saint-Sans
Paris, October 3, 1835
Algiers, Algeria / colonial France then, December 16, 1921

Disc 1
Piano Concerto no. 1 in D major, op. 17 (1858)
I. Andante - Allegro assai [11:37]
II. Andante sostenuto, quasi adagio [8:35] - III. Allegro con fuoco [6:25]
Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor , op. 22 (1868)
I. Andante sostenuto [10:08]
II. Allegro scherzando [5:23] - III. Presto [6:09]
Piano Concerto no. 3 in G minor , op. 22 (1869)
I. Moderato assai - Pi mosso (Allegro maestoso) [12:26]
II. Andante [6:16] - III. Allegro non troppo [7:06]
Wedding Cake, op. 76 (1886)
Valse-Caprice for piano and strings [5:58]
Disc 2
Piano Concerto no. 4 in C minor, op. 44 (1875)
I. Allegro moderato [11:18] - II. Allegro vivace [13:24]
Piano Concerto no. 5 in F major, op. 103 (1896)
I. Allegro animato [10:11]
II. Andante - Allegretto tranquillo [11:07] - III. Molto allegro [5:49]
Rapsodie dAuvergne, for piano and orchestra op. 73 (1884) [9:02]
Allegro Appassionato, for piano and orchestra op. 70 (1884) [5:11]
Africa, Fantasie for piano and orchestra op. 89 (1889-91) [9:47]

Stephen Hough, piano
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo

Recorded in Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 22-24 J anuary and 6-8 September 2000;
And in Warwick, Arts Centre on 3 J uly 2001 (Concerto No. 3)
Recording engineers, Tony Faulkner and Mike Clements. Recording producer, Andrew Keener
2001 Hyperion Records Ltd. CDA67331/2

Cast your eye over the listings of these concertos in the classical catalogue and youll find half a
column of versions of No. 2, including three by Rubinstein and a celebrated live recording by Gilels
while representation of the other four is so sparse as to suggest their days are over. No. 4, once the
rival to No. 2 in popularity, does have Cortots glorious recording of 1935 to speak for it, but when
do you ever hear it in concerts now? Richters name pops up in No. 5, in a 1952 account with
Kondrashin and a Moscow youth orchestra. As to No. 1 and No. 3, they have faded almost to
vanishing point. () Enough background: forward Stephen Hough, whose arrival is timely. His set
is well recorded and presented, and conductor and orchestra are with him in a proper collaboration.
It includes moreover the four shorter solo pieces with orchestra, which are characteristically
pleasing compositions in a genre the composer liked to cultivate and of which Africa and the
Rhapsodie dAuvergne are especially worth having. If Saint-Sanss idiom once answered (and
maybe still does) to qualities fundamental to the French musical character, it must straight away be
said that Hough sounds the complete insider. My first impression of coolness and a slight reserve
was soon banished by a recognition that his voice is ideally pitched. He commands the range of the
big statements, whatever their character, as well as sparkle and panache, a sense of drama and
seemingly inexhaustible stamina; and he can charm. Yet perhaps most delightful is the lightness and
clarity of his decorative playing: even when subservient to the orchestra, one notices that every note
of his roulades and filigree comes up glistening. And it is a bonus not to have the virtuoso passages
sounding hectic or overblown for Saint-Sans, virtuosity always had an expressive potential.
There is an air of manufcature about the writing sometimes, certainly, but as Hough knows, there
must be nothing mechanical in the delivery of it. All of it tells. Sweeping across the keyboard,
dipping and soaring through the teaming notes, he flies like a bird.



Camille Saint-Sans - Stephen Hough

Trying to single out a quality which makes him particularly admirable, I think it should be his
acuteness of ear in all matters relating to sonority and balance. He conveys what makes these pieces
tick: fine workmanship, fantasy, colour, and the various ways Saint-Sans was so good at
combining piano and orchestra. Gounod remarked that his younger colleague played with and
made light of the orchestra as of the pianoforte, and these scores are textbooks of lean but firm
orchestration from which at least one major French composer learned: Ravel, another eclectic, who
must have seen the old bear as a kindred spirit and whose G major Piano Concerto might surely
not have been written the way it is without the example of Saint-Sanss achievements. The days
are past when the CBSO under Louis Frmaux was considered Britains French orchestra, but
with Sakari Oramo it does splendidly here, playing alertly with its inspiring soloist. It is a
partnership which often goes beyond the punctual and the musicianly, and in the picture-postcard
orientalism of the Egyptian Fifth Concerto achieves a level of exceptional vivacity and definition.
The recording balances are fine, with lovely piano sound and plenty of orchestral detail in natural-
sounding perspectives. There is more personal music in these concertos and the four smaller pieces
than I had remembered and these performances have brought it up as fresh as paint. Irreproachably
elegant on the surface, the music is all the better for sometimes disclosing a basic vulgarity, as if a
streak of plebeian blood were there to act as a safeguard against the nervous instability inherent in
good breeding. It is shot through not only with good tunes but with touches of the vernacular and
the theatrical. It is never insipid and rarely banal. This seems to me a spiffing set and pleasurable
discoveries and rediscoveries await.
Stephen Plainstow, Gramophone, November 2001


Algiers in 1921, at the time of Saint-Sans passing

Superlative (The Independent) Superb Houghs new set in Hyperions outstanding
Romantic Piano Concerto series sweeps the board (The Guardian) A delightful set that does
this underrated composer full credit (Classic FM Magazine) 'It is unalloyed pleasure to sit
through all five at a sitting the quite outstanding pianism of Stephen Hough makes this an
unmissable addition to anyone remotely interested in the barnstorming, physically exhilarating
concertos of the late nineteenth century (International Record Review) ... Marvellous
performances, full of joy, vigour and sparkle. The recording is in the demonstration bracket and this
Hyperion set includes no fewer than four encores. An easy first choice (The Penguin Guide to
Compact Discs)


Three languages-, 28 pages-booklet in .pdf format included.
Complete details of the Romantic Piano Concerto project can be found
at the Hyperion Records website (Indexes - Collections)
Quote:
Techn - The Romantic Piano Concerto, vol. 27
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