Composer: Charles Camille Saint-Saëns
Performer: Ensemble Le Déluge, Laurent Wagschal, Pauline Bartissol, Ayako Tanaka, Sebastiel Surel, Pierre Fouchenneret
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Ad Vitam
Catalogue: 602319
Release: 2021
Size: 3.17 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Sonate No. 1 pour Violoncelle et Piano en Ut Mineur, Op. 32
01. I. Allegro
02. II. Andante tranquillo e sostenuto
03. III. Allegro moderato
Sonate No. 1 pour violon et piano en Ré Mineur, Op. 75
04. Ia. Allegro agitato
05. Ib. Adagio
06. IIa. Allegretto moderato
07. IIb. Allegro molto
08. Romance, Op. 36, R. 195: Romance pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 36
09. Allegro appassionato pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 43
Sarabande et Rigaudon pour violon et piano, Op. 93
10. I. Sarabande
11. II. Rigaudon
Le Carnaval des Animaux, R. 125
12. XIII. Le cygne (Arr. pour violoncelle et piano)
13. Gavotte No. 3 pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 16
Prélude du Déluge, Op. 45, transcrit pour violon et piano
14. I. Adagio – Andante sostenuto
15. II. Andantino
CD 02
Sonate No. 2 pour violon et piano en Mi Bémol Majeur, Op. 102
01. I. Poco allegro più tosto moderato
02. II. Scherzo vivace
03. III. Andante
04. IV. Allegro grazioso non presto
05. Berceuse pour violon et piano, Op. 38
06. Romance pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 51
07. Chant saphique pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 91
08. Élégie pour violon et piano, Op. 160
Sonate No. 2 pour violoncelle et piano en Fa Majeur, Op. 123
09. I. Maestoso, largamente
10. II. Scherzo con Variazioni
11. III. Romanza
12. IV. Allegro non troppo, grazioso
CD 03
Sonate No. 3 pour violoncelle et piano en Ré Majeur
01. I. Allegro animato
02. II. Andante sostenuto
Triptyque pour violon et piano, Op. 136
03. I. Prémice
04. II. Vision congolaise
05. III. Joyeuseté
06. Méditation pour violon et piano, Op. 3
Suite pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 16
07. I. Prélude
08. II. Sérénade
09. III. Scherzo
10. IV. Romance
11. V. Final
12. Élégie pour violon et piano, Op. 143
13. l’Air de la pendule pour violon et piano
14. Prière pour violoncelle et piano, Op. 158
Though chamber music is incontestably the least well-known component of his corpus, Camille Saint-Saëns was a master of the genre, leaving us with a large collection of works. We may think of Saint-Saëns as a conservative and very academic composer. And yet, we would be well advised to remember that he was, in fact, a pioneer. Even as a young man, Saint-Saëns delved into chamber music instead of opera, the conventional form for an up-and-coming musician. He composed chamber music throughout his life – through to the final woodwind sonatas in 1921 – restoring lustre to the form which, in France, had been all but forgotten. A driving force in the 19th century movement to reinvigorate the French school, Saint-Saëns paved the way for an entire generation of French musicians. This included his student Gabriel Fauré, who would go on to make an important contribution to the chamber music repertoire himself. These works embody the essence of Saint-Saëns’ composition: his lifelong and unyielding quest for perfection in form, and quality of the melodic line. It is fair to call Saint-Saëns a natural-born melodist, a true aesthete devoted to endowing a phrase with purity and beauty.
In 2021, what better way to celebrate the centennial of the composer’s death than to discover (or rediscover) this unfairly forgotten repertoire? For this recording of Saint-Saëns’ complete works for strings and piano – the first of its kind – I was joined by chamber musicians with a passion for rare music. In addition to the violin and cello duets that we are pleased to present in this first volume, two trios, two quartets and a quintet for piano were also composed.
Le Déluge Ensemble was founded in 2019 for this venture. Our name was inspired by Saint-Saëns’ homonymous oratorio and the radiant violin solo in the prelude that depicts the golden age of humanity. A version for piano written by the composer can be heard on this recording.