Post by erik on Sept 16, 2023 21:46:38 GMT -5
This week's Classical Works Spotlight looks at the very first piano concerto ever composed by a French composer, one whose lifespan was among the longest of any major composer in history.
Saint-Saens: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 17
French composer Camille Saint-Saens had one of the longest lives of any major composer of any country, born in 1835, only eight years after Beethoven’s passing, and living until 1921, when composers like Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky had turned music upside down. Saint-Saens did some rule-bending himself, but it was to expand the scope of mid-to-late 19th century French music in the post-Berlioz, pre-Debussy era. Most prominently was in the way he established a new way at looking at the form that both Mozart and Beethoven had thoroughly mastered, namely the piano concerto. He had not only made several short single-movement works for piano and orchestra, but he also composed five fully-fledged nature concertos for the piano. His Piano Concerto No. 1 In D Major was composed in 1858, when he was twenty-three years old; and as it turned out, it was the first such work by a major French composer. Ironically enough, considering that he would enlarge the size of the orchestra for many of his other works, this concerto hews to a relatively modest Mozart/Beethoven orchestra (omitting cymbals and trombones), and at the same time allowing for a lot of dramatic flourishes and virtuosity, tenets that would become a hallmark of his work and those of fellow Frenchmen to follow. Dedicated to the French pianist Marie Jaell, the concerto, which takes roughly 25-29 minutes to perform, was for a long time obscured by its successors (particularly nos. 2 & 5); but by the early 1980’s, it had managed to secure a place in the piano concerto repertoire.
Piano: JEAN-PHILIPPE COLLARD
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ANDRE PREVIN (EMI)
Included:
WEDDING CAKE, OP. 76
RHAPSODIE D’AUVERGNE, OP. 73
ALLEGRO APPASSIONATO, OP. 70
AFRICA, OP. 89
Saint-Saens: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 IN D MAJOR, OP. 17
French composer Camille Saint-Saens had one of the longest lives of any major composer of any country, born in 1835, only eight years after Beethoven’s passing, and living until 1921, when composers like Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky had turned music upside down. Saint-Saens did some rule-bending himself, but it was to expand the scope of mid-to-late 19th century French music in the post-Berlioz, pre-Debussy era. Most prominently was in the way he established a new way at looking at the form that both Mozart and Beethoven had thoroughly mastered, namely the piano concerto. He had not only made several short single-movement works for piano and orchestra, but he also composed five fully-fledged nature concertos for the piano. His Piano Concerto No. 1 In D Major was composed in 1858, when he was twenty-three years old; and as it turned out, it was the first such work by a major French composer. Ironically enough, considering that he would enlarge the size of the orchestra for many of his other works, this concerto hews to a relatively modest Mozart/Beethoven orchestra (omitting cymbals and trombones), and at the same time allowing for a lot of dramatic flourishes and virtuosity, tenets that would become a hallmark of his work and those of fellow Frenchmen to follow. Dedicated to the French pianist Marie Jaell, the concerto, which takes roughly 25-29 minutes to perform, was for a long time obscured by its successors (particularly nos. 2 & 5); but by the early 1980’s, it had managed to secure a place in the piano concerto repertoire.
Piano: JEAN-PHILIPPE COLLARD
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/ANDRE PREVIN (EMI)
Included:
WEDDING CAKE, OP. 76
RHAPSODIE D’AUVERGNE, OP. 73
ALLEGRO APPASSIONATO, OP. 70
AFRICA, OP. 89