Saint-Saëns: Chopin & Liszt Sonatas Arrangements for 2 Pianos

[FBerwald]

While these works in itself may not be unsung, this arrangement is. I came to know about this in a newsletter from Simon Callaghan reg. upcoming releases - featuring the duo Simon Callaghan & Hiroaki Takenouchi.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CQ8GQ4N/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

Simon Callaghan's schedule highlights a number of interesting items not the least of which is a "mystery" recording for Hyperion around November With the Sinfonieorchester St Gallen / Modestas Pitrenas [presumably for the RPC series] Wonder what this will be.

A casual look over the repertoire of  Simon Callaghan & Hiroaki Takenouchi highlights Beethoven Symphony No. 5 arranged for Piano Duo by Xaver Scharwenka [again unsung arrangement of a sung work - Moderators, I hope this is ok]. Surprisingly there's a recording of the Symphony by Tessa Uys & Ben Shoeman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeehIRugS78
Friends here can say how this fares with the existing transcriptions.

[TerraEpon]

I assume the Amazon listing is messed up and the tracks are in the proper order...

Also quite disappointing for that being Volume 3 of the Saint-Saens series when there's still some stuff missing that he actually wrote....

[Alan Howe]

Downloadable tracks at Amazon seem suddenly to have appeared there in the wrong order. Very annoying!

[eschiss1]

I'd noticed that about another recording but had thought it unique to that recording. I hope they fix the problem before my next mp3-recording purchase there (which -may- be next month)...

[Jonathan]

Again, I too am somewhat puzzled but the fact that these two works are arrangements and there is much original 2 piano works by Saint-Saens that haven't been recorded.  However, if it is as good as the earlier volumes in the series, it will be well worth a listen.  Amazon seem to have got themselves in a muddle, hope they sort it out soon.

[eschiss1]

I'm not sure that's true; how many original, non-transcription-of-his-or-someone-else's works by Saint-Saëns for 2 pianos / piano four-hands actually -are- there, though,??? Possibly not all that many. Only 10 have been uploaded to IMSLP so far, and of those that haven't-well, anyone have a copy of Teller-Ratner to check?...

(Edit: if you add arrangements by the composer -and others- (Benfeld, especially) of his own works- then you have more on the order of 50+. But original piano duo/2-piano works, maybe not so many I -think...-)

[eschiss1]

(The first disk has - hrm- 3 arrangements (Rouet, Tarentelle and Septet arrangements) and 7 original works. (IMSLP doesn't have König etc Op.59 but it is listed in the 1908 Durand catalog as an original piano duet after a ballad of Heinrich Heine. In 9/8 time signature.)  A 2nd CD of original music could contain Marche op.163, the caprices opp. 96 and 106, and the variations op.35, -maybe- Op.8bis (1898 2-piano arrangement of some of the 1858 Op.8 harmonium and piano duets) but otherwise I gather (unless I'm missing something... checking...) would have to continue with arrangements.)

Ah. Never mind, you said this is volume 3, and I notice from NML that caprice arabe is -on- volume 2, as is Op.106, Op.7, and Op.35. I'm now more dubious that there are original 2-piano/piano-duet works left unless they spread the original works and arrangements very carefully... hrm, I don't see Op.163 or Op.8bis in the listing of volume 2, but that's not very well much for a volume 4; expect lots more arrangements.

[Jonathan]

It is rather confusing with Saint-saens - my original source for my list of his works included 2 piano arrangments of all the piano concertos, the symphonies and all of the symphonic poems although how many of these were actually by the composer wasn't specified!  My source was a very old edition of Grove and there are much more up to date books available now.

[eschiss1]

Have you looked at the Catalogue thématique published by Durand in 1908? It specifies a fair amount of useful information on each work and its publications, with incipits.

[TerraEpon]

From my list, compiled from a few sources including the Ratner thematic catalog, there's plenty of SS's own music that aren't on the two CDs....most are transcriptions but not all:

Piano Duet:
-Symphony No. 1
-March du Couronnement
-Orient et Occident
-Sur Les Bords du Nil
-Vers la Victoire
-Marche Dediee aux Etudiants d'Alger (has optional chorus, however)
-Variations on a Theme of Beethoven (2 piano version is there, of course)
-Benediction Nuptiale

Two Pianos:
-Symphony No. 3 'Organ'
-Marche Heroique (also two pianos, eight hands)
-Phaeton
-La Jeunesse d'Hercule
-Suite Algerienne
-Jota Aragonese
-Overture de Fete
-Piano Concerto No. 1
-Piano Concerto No. 3
-Allegro Appassionato in c#
-Rhapsodie d'Auvergne
-Africa
-Cypres et Lauriers
-Four Duos (from Six Duos, Op. 8 )
-Hail California (might be a vocal score)


Now granted some of this may be wrong and not Saint-Saens's own transcriptions, but many of them for sure are correct -- a number of them DO have other recordings (including on this weird disc played on a 'Double Piano' which like a singular instrument with a keyboard on both ends) but a lot of them I've never been able to source.

[eschiss1]

I know how this sounds, but if I can help with that, allow me to try? (In passing, an increasing number of Saint-Saëns manuscripts as well as published scores have been, unsurprisingly, digitized by the French National Library.)