Search - Saint-Saens, Collard, Previn :: Piano Concertos 1-5

Brilliant

Ryan Richards | Midland, MI United States | 10/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Saint-Saens' piano music embodies all that is good about the Romantic era: long, haunting melodic lines, innovative themes and a particular gift for making the music fit together in a quasi-Classical fashion. That said, I can't say enough good things about the playing on this CD. Collard's performance is so virtuostic and effortless that the music sounds as though it's just coming out of thin air, rather than having a human laboring over it. Match this with the awesomely powerful yet extremely skilled orchestral backing from Previn and the RPO, and you have a CD that got me into Saint-Saens even though I'd heard almost nothing by him before. This CD set will make you pay attention to it. Worth every penny."

Musical and Pianistic brilliance

Ryan Richards | 08/07/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Saint-Saens' set of Piano Concerti are relatively little known but consistently rewarding nevertheless. Listeners familiar only with the popular Second Concerto need not worry that the other concerti deserve their relative neglect. On the contrary, all of these concerti are remarkable for their high level of melodic invention, with Saint-Saens' gift for turning out haunting, ear-tickling melody abundantly in evidence. There is nothing stuffy nor trite about the writing, either. Moreover, these are concerti written for pianists by a pianist: the piano writing demonstrates an understanding and love for the piano that only a pianist could possess. All in all, I would say these works rank in quality at least with Tchaikovsky's Second and Third Concerti. These recordings seem pretty hard to beat. Collard makes the very best use of his musicality and virtuosity without becoming self-promoting. Previn, always a highly sympathetic accompanist, is at his best here. The sound ranges from very good to excellent."

Stellar

Christopher | Wengen-en-esprit | 02/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have never liked mixes with too much emphasis on the piano. While EMI's final result is far from the best recordings, it is far from atrocious, as some "ears" seem to point out in earlier reviews.



I will keep this review brief: it's more a written reaction from listening to this set straight through, five concertos in a row (and two extra pieces), nearly every time I play the discs. It is as if I must listen from the beginning to the end, like a well orchestrated, well organized, well plotted programmatic music album. And this is only, in part, due to Collard's fantastic playing -- there are two accidental "wrong-notes" in the whole set which *was* a slight disappointment, until I realized that I wanted a performance, not a digitally edited reconstruction.



The credit for this music goes to Mr. Saint-Saens! The man was extraordinary, sublime, luminous, and these pieces remind me of the painted films of Mr. Brakhage...whose pieces are shown silent usually...and I don't wonder, somehow, if there is really some connection, here...between humans who are less grounded, and more in tune with something higher...



The piano concerto is my favorite form of classical expression. I own many (not enough) concertos and while I find myself playing a little Rachmaninoff here and there, I will explore Saint-Saens' five concertos all in one sitting, nearly every time.



Bravo Collard et Previn!"