Romain Descharmes, Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Marc Soustrot – Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 4 & 5 (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:17 minutes | 933 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
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’.
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Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Marc Soustrot – Saint-Saëns: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:05:58 minutes | 2,25 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Naxos
The Malmö Symphony Orchestra, led by Marc Soustrot, presents this first volume of a three album series devoted to the five symphonies and other orchestral works by Saint-Saëns. Complete recordings of Saint-Saëns’s symphonies are rare and this cycle is the first series released since the 1970s. In addition to the two symphonies here, the programme is embellished with the symphonic poem Phaéton which brings to life the Greek mythological drama with stampeding horses and thunderbolts.
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Marion Cotillard, Xavier Gallais, Barcelona Symphony, Marc Soustrot – Honegger: Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:15:09 minutes | 719 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alpha Classics
By Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, “Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher” (1938) is an imposing oratorio. Unlike other banal versions of the myth, the libretto is a highly original creation by French poet and playwright Paul Claudel, who perfectly dramatises the last moments of the martyr’s life. Honegger highlights all the anguish and tension of Joan’s interrogation and subsequent execution. Originally written for actress Ida Rubinstein, an excellent ballerina and actress who was the first to perform the part, the oratorio is written as a flashback in which Joan recalls her life, just before she dies.
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