Saint-Saëns’s mature creative genius shines throughout these last two piano concertos, looking back over a glorious musical ancestry while at the same time opening the door to new worlds. The Fourth Piano Concerto is prescient of both his great Organ Symphony and the concertos of Rachmaninov, revealing Saint-Saëns at his most inspired and innovative. The Fifth was composed in the Egyptian temple town of Luxor, and displays a rich tapestry of exotic cultural influences from Javanese, Spanish and Middle Eastern music, as well as portrayals of chirping Nile crickets and croaking frogs, and the composer’s representation of ‘the joy of a sea crossing’. Volumes 1 and 2 can be heard on 8573476 and 77.

This is the last of a three-volume edition of Saint-Saëns’ complete Piano Concertos and other works for piano and orchestra. The first of these was released in March 2017 (Naxos 8573476), and acclaimed by ClassicsToday.com as “A disc to savor”; “The First Concerto… played with joyful directness and a complete lack of affectation. …Descharmes treats the [Second Concerto] with almost epicurean relish, nowhere more so than in this sassy, witty account of the central scherzo. There’s no lack of virtuosity, but also time to savor the music’s many harmonic delights. Through it all, Soustrot accompanies with total confidence, and the sonics are terrific.” Volume 2 (8573477) was a MusicWeb International ‘Recording of the Month’, and plaudits from Gramophone included “What is there not to like? The warmth and depth of the orchestral contribution and Marc Soustrot’s eye for detail are significant bonuses.”

Interest in Saint-Saëns from Malmö has been boosted further with the recent release of the complete music for cello and orchestra with cellist Gabriel Schwabe (8573737) which earned a Gramophone Choice award. Marc Soustrot and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra have also recorded works for violin and orchestra with soloist Tianwa Yang (8573411), described as “totally spellbinding” by Pizzicato.

Since his noteworthy debut with the Orchestre de Paris in May 2012 and as winner of the Dublin Competition, Romain Descharmes has established himself as one of the foremost French pianists of his generation. Highly regarded by fellow musicians and in constant demand for concerts with orchestras and also for recitals and chamber music, he has also “sensitively accompanied” (The Strad) violinist Tianwa Yang for Naxos in Mendelssohn’s Sonata in F minor
(8572662).

Conductor Marc Soustrot is considered a specialist in French orchestral music, and his recordings of Saint-Saëns for Naxos with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, including the complete Symphonies, have been received with wide critical acclaim. Of volume 2 of the complete symphonies (8573139), Pizzicato wrote “With his conducting, Marc Soustrot creates a lot of electrifying energy, the excellent sound of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra having been perfectly captured by the sound crew. The second volume of the Saint-Saëns Edition from Malmö maintains what the first promised,” while ClassicsToday.com said that “This second volume in Naxos’ ongoing Saint-Saëns symphony cycle is as good as the first.”