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The debut of the distinguished violinist and conductor Augustin Dumay on ONYX.
Saint-Saëns’s popular First Cello Concerto is coupled with his superb but neglected First Symphony and the late and rare double concerto for cello and violin ‘La Muse et le Poète’.
Dumay is music director of the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, making their debut recording with Dumay. They are joined by cellist Pavel Gomziakov in ‘La Muse et le Poète’ and the famous first cello concerto.
The First Symphony was praised by Berlioz and Gounod when it was premiered in 1853. Both composers were amazed that such an assured symphony could be the work of an 18-year-old. Saint-Saëns’s use of the large orchestra is extraordinary and the work has all the hallmarks associated with this composer: flair, good taste and a gift for wonderful tunes that remain with the listener. Its neglect in the concert hall is hard to understand.
10th June 2012
“Saint-Saëns’s First Symphony, written in 1853, when he was 18, and given a polished performance here under Augustin Dumay, reveals a composer of staggering self-confidence and adventurousness, eagerly taking his cues from Berlioz and Liszt”
METRO
10th June 2012
“[The Symphony is] given a polished performance here under Augustin Dumay, reveal[ing] a composer of staggering self-confidence and adventurousness”
Classical Music
30th June 2012
***
“Warm, affectionate performances from this relatively new Japanese orchestra...Sachio Fujioka shows himself in La Muse et le Poete to be the more interesting conductor”
September 2012
“there is plenty of personality to Gomziakov's playing and the orchestra is deft and colourful.”
October 2012
****
“Dumay makes a convincing case for the First Symphony and sympathetically supports Gomziakov's lively account of the Cello Concerto, with some delicate poetry in the slow movement.”
25th October 2012
“A fine CD, ideally suited to the recollection of summer past.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
