Post by erik on Mar 26, 2022 12:20:19 GMT -5
The French composer Camille Saint-Saens' impressions of Africa are encompassed in the "fantasy" for piano and orchestra in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Saint-Saens: AFRICA (FANTASY FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA), OP. 89
Among the great French composers to have come forth since the heydays of both Hector Berlioz and Georges Bizet, Camille Saint-Saens was among the most popular of them all, both during his extremely long lifetime (which lasted from 1835 to 1921) and well beyond. In particular, he composed quite extensively for the piano, and composed five piano concertos which were quite redolent of French romanticism, and which called for orchestral forces that were sizeable but not overdone. Apart from those full-blown concertos, however, he also composed a number of single-movement works for piano and orchestra that reflected his penchant for the exotic. For instance, near the end of the 1880’s and into the 1890’s, the composer took numerous trips into the continent of Africa, which inspired one of those shorter works. The 1891 work “Africa”, which he deemed to be a “fantasy” for piano and orchestra, borrowed, by the composer’s own admission, from the music he heard in those parts of the African interior that were colonized by France; and as was the case with his other works for piano and orchestra, this eleven-minute work featured extremely colorful orchestration and brilliant piano playing. Though he was considered something of a reactionary during the latter stages of his life (showing distrust in up-and-coming fellow French composers Ravel and Debussy, for instance), he nevertheless kept up, even becoming one of the first major composers of what would become known as “film music”, with the score he composed for the 18-minute silent French film The Assassination Of The Duke Of Guise.
Piano: JEAN PHILIPPE COLLARD
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ANDRE PREVIN (EMI)
Included:
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 17
WEDDING CAKE, OP. 76
RHAPSODIE D’AUVERGNE, OP. 73
ALLEGRO APPASIONATO, OP. 70
Saint-Saens: AFRICA (FANTASY FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA), OP. 89
Among the great French composers to have come forth since the heydays of both Hector Berlioz and Georges Bizet, Camille Saint-Saens was among the most popular of them all, both during his extremely long lifetime (which lasted from 1835 to 1921) and well beyond. In particular, he composed quite extensively for the piano, and composed five piano concertos which were quite redolent of French romanticism, and which called for orchestral forces that were sizeable but not overdone. Apart from those full-blown concertos, however, he also composed a number of single-movement works for piano and orchestra that reflected his penchant for the exotic. For instance, near the end of the 1880’s and into the 1890’s, the composer took numerous trips into the continent of Africa, which inspired one of those shorter works. The 1891 work “Africa”, which he deemed to be a “fantasy” for piano and orchestra, borrowed, by the composer’s own admission, from the music he heard in those parts of the African interior that were colonized by France; and as was the case with his other works for piano and orchestra, this eleven-minute work featured extremely colorful orchestration and brilliant piano playing. Though he was considered something of a reactionary during the latter stages of his life (showing distrust in up-and-coming fellow French composers Ravel and Debussy, for instance), he nevertheless kept up, even becoming one of the first major composers of what would become known as “film music”, with the score he composed for the 18-minute silent French film The Assassination Of The Duke Of Guise.
Piano: JEAN PHILIPPE COLLARD
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ANDRE PREVIN (EMI)
Included:
PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 17
WEDDING CAKE, OP. 76
RHAPSODIE D’AUVERGNE, OP. 73
ALLEGRO APPASIONATO, OP. 70