SACDs - Saint-Saëns

“His Liszt is remarkable. The F minor Transcendental Study's brand of miraculous virtuosity, at once tumultuous and limpid, is marvellously captured.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 *****

“in an age of much standardised playing, his performances are vividly personal both in technique and in character...few have carried the richly ornamented vocal lines [of the Petrarch Sonnets] forwards with a more breathless ardour and momentum...then there is Ravel's Gaspard in a performance of rare imaginative resource...This is a record I shall return to for an ever-renewed sense of wonder and fascination.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2013

“The macabre images of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit, in which Sudbin’s brilliant technical command is allied to limpid, subtle tonal shading and luminosity of texture, are captured with a haunting chill in this performance, and the Saint-Saëns opens up wondrous vistas of colour and atmosphere. This is a truly great disc, inspired and inspiring.” The Telegraph, 15th February 2013 *****

“The Royal Scottish National Orchestra play with consummate elegance for their former music director Neeme Järvi, though their very authentic sound in French music also shows the influence of Stéphane Denève's more recent tenure.” The Guardian, 7th June 2012 ****

“Järvi's programme of symphonic poems, bacchanales and barcarolles ranges from the smokily luxuriant to the swashbuckling. An attractive performance of exotic bon-bons from the RSNO.” The Independent, 24th June 2012 ****

“This is pure pleasure...a collection of sparkling gems...The RSNO is on top form, with shimmering strings, colourful woodwind and swaggering brass, full of wit, colour and joie de vivre. The recording is also outstanding...giving a wonderful, natural bloom that is perfect for this effervescent music.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2012 *****

“The playing is full of character, the music's detail clearly elucidated, the images of Saint-Saens's imagination firmly and atmospherically fixed...All in all this is a disc with plenty to discover and enjoy.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2012

“You can’t imagine these pieces being delivered with more conviction; proof that the relationship between Järvi and the RSNO is as strong as ever.” The Arts Desk, 11th August 2012

“…it is a breathtaking achievement. There is passion, but precision, technically well-nigh faultless.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008

“Eschenbach's Poulenc is heavily romanticised, squeezing every last drop of pathos from the score and finding many moments of ravishing beauty. Latry is, for the most part, a willing accomplice – only in the swaying rhythm of the subito andante moderato do conductor and soloist seem at odds with each other – and while it is left to him to root out the music's austere and acerbic sides, he clearly relishes Eschenbach's slow tempi in reaching the work's two powerful climaxes.
This performance may miss many of Poulenc's subtleties in its single-minded striving for loveliness but the wildly enthusiastic cheering from the audience seems wholly justified given the unusual breadth of this reading.
The recording was made at the inaugural concerts of the new organ of Philadelphia's Verizon Hall, which included the almost obligatory Saint-Saëns Symphony. Properly, this is more a test of how well an organ integrates with an orchestra than a vehicle for the organ itself, and on those terms this proves to be a wholly successful performance. Eschenbach's intuitive reading casts the work in a rich perspective, the opening possessing a tangible atmosphere of menace while the second movement's Presto positively fizzes with energy.
The organ shows its stature (the booklet tells us that, with 6938 pipes, it is the largest concerthall organ in the US) with palpable depth in the first movement and majestic presence in the finale; but the real star of the show here is the Philadelphia Orchestra itself. Mouth-watering wind solos, gorgeous string-playing and a wonderfully crisp and cohesive sound (as it must be in what sounds a dreadfully dry acoustic) combine to create rather more memorable moments than we have a right to expect; the string entry just before the close of the first section is, as they say, to die for.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010