Saint-Saëns First String Quartet

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks Sydney for the download, but do you know who the performers were?

[mjkFendrich]

I haven't listened to this performance yet, but I guess this a broadcast from a series of fascinating concerts
at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris from 2008:


Quatuor Parker
Camille Saint-Saëns
Quatuor n° 1 en mi mineur op. 112
Ernest Chausson
Quatuor à cordes op. 35

sam. 5 avril 2008 - 14h00
Musée d'Orsay
Auditorium niveau -2


see http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/evenements/musique/presentation-generale/article/radio-france-9537.html?cHash=c992108e0b

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks mjk.

[semloh]

Thank you, Sydney - much appreciated.

I had no idea that S-S had written any chamber music, so this is totally new territory for me. I see from the web that he actually wrote two - Opp.112 & 153 - available on a Naxos CD, among others. Well, we learn something new every day! 

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Ha, the joys of discovery!

Semloh, the Naxos CD of the two String Quartets performed by the Fine Arts Quartet is very fine indeed. (There are other good performances, such as the ones by the Miami Quartet which first had life as a Conifer disc).

And if you want to embark on a S-S chamber music voyage of discovery then Hyperion is the place to go. In particular 4 CDs, and all top notch performances of real gems in the chamber music canon:

CDA67431/2 Nash Ensemble: real goodies here, such as the Op 14 Pf Quintet (1855), Op 41 Pf Quartet (1875), Op 65 Septet (1880), and 3 very late (1921) Sonatas for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon Opp. 166, 167, 168.

CDA67538 Florestan Trio: Piano Trio 1 Op 18 (1863) and Op 92 (1892)

CDA67095 Mats Lidstrom and Nengt Forsberg: Music for Cello & Piano including the 2 Cello Sonatas No 1 Op 32 (1872) and 2 Op 123 (1905)

CDA67100 Philippe Graffin and Pascal Devoyon: Music for Violin & Piano, including the 2 Violin Sonatas No 1 Op 75 (1885) and No 2 Op 102 (1896) and other shorter works.

Sticking my neck out I'm happy (or foolish) enough to assert that these performances could not conceivably be bettered. IMHO they are hot spots in the Hyperion catalogue.

S-S is often thought of (correctly enough) as a thoroughly sung composer - in my teenage years even the spotty youth in the local record shop had heard of him. But the work list also contains some real utter gems of chamber music which are pretty much unsung. Hence S-S is a legitimate enough composer within this Forum!

[semloh]

Many thanks for the overview, Peter. I can't believe that this part of S-S's work has escaped my attention for so many years. The little group of Hyperion CDs would make a nice Christmas present to myself. 

[eschiss1]

Well, I don't know if it says anything, but it was a long interval between the first time I heard the first violin sonata and the first time I heard the second (which I now prefer , as played on an Erato CD of the 2 sonatas and several briefer works, one originally for flute and piano...) - probably likewise the 2 cello sonatas. Briefer interval for the two string quartets since unlike the first violin sonata or first cello sonata (whose slow - slower - movement, I think, is the theme music to the radio program St. Paul Sunday Morning), neither really has had a heyday. 
To misuse Pratchett, there's good eating on those... er... sorry. But really, yes, there really are a lot of good pieces there (at least, speaking of those I've heard. I know there's those I haven't, and then too there's the early E major piano quartet e.g., only recently published, which I expect hardly anyone has...- me either...) As to the first string quartet (I often regret not having bought a cheap Erato recording of it when the label was losing its distributor a long while back and the CD was being remaindered... now it's more available) it's a powerful and passionate work in my opinion, while the 2nd is a memorable work of a more quiet kind (quite striking of course... I often find myself humming its opening bars just because, like those of the 2nd violin sonata.)
Anyhow. Enjoy