November 12, 2018

  • Lortie Launches Into Saint-Saens' Piano Concerti

     

    Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos 1, 2 & 4
    Louis Lortie, piano. BBC Philharmonic/Edward Gardner
    Chandos 20031
    Total Time:  70:58
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Across a long career as a composer and performer, Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) would be among the first creating orchestral music that would help transition French music away from the shadow of Viennese Classicism.  He would stay somewhat current with modern musical trends of Schumann, Liszt, and Wagner.  It may be for that reason that so many of his concerti and symphonies are more historical testaments to their time and less popular today.  He had a tendency to be considered as old fashioned and out of touch as the Belle Epoque began to flourish and the Impressionists and Symbolists appeared, and of course did not embrace the emerging serialism.  He wrote five piano concertos and several works for piano and orchestra that appear from time to time on disc but tend to be less popular concert However, as he has done with other important works from French music literature, Louis Lortie embarks on a journey to invite us to reconsider these 19th-Century works.  His first foray into the Saint-Saens concerti focuses on the more popular second bookended by the first and fourth on this new Chandos release.

    Saint-Saens would perform his Piano Concerto No. 1 in D, Op. 17 (1858) throughout the 1860s (it was not published until 1875).  Like many concertos of the time the primary purpose of the work was to show off his own virtuosity.  His concert debut was at the age of 11 playing Beethoven’s third concerto and Mozart’s fifteenth concerto (K. 450) using his own cadenzas in the latter.  It was not uncommon for such players to then write their own works.  The piano literature is littered with such pieces that provide windows into the growing virtuosic playing that grew across the 19th Century.  In this first concerto, the shadow of Beethoven is there, but there also some interesting precocious moments.  The solo horn opening is the first with its romantic gestures that suggest the outdoors in the bars of the “Andante”.  The piano then takes off with a series of arpeggios and runs picking up the theme and embellishing it with the horns being quite prominent throughout.  Saint-Saens is already thinking symphonically in this work as the orchestra becomes an important actor with its variety of motifs being tossed about in winds and strings while the piano flourishes and interacts.  This cyclic development will be explored often by the composer and is a hallmark of his later style.  The slow movement also has a rather interesting focus on the orchestra, a resting spot for the soloist who appears in unmeasured cadenzas, one of the other innovations in the piece which are quite striking.  Then we head into the invigorating sonata-form finale focusing on two motives that will propel us to the conclusion with the horn calls returning.

    Anton Rubinstein commissioned the second concerto.  Saint-Saens was the soloist and this was a challenge given that he composed the work over less than three weeks in 1868 for a May performance.  It was the first of his concertos to be published (it came out the same year).  The Piano Concerto No. 2 in g, Op. 22 is also cast in three movements with the weight given to the first which is slightly shorter than the other two combined.  History has it that the music for this opening was an adaptation, or reworking, of a motet Gabriel Faure had written and shown to the composer.  The work has an almost pastiche quality with an opening that essentially quotes Bach and Chopin.  The fast-paced central scherzo and dance-like finale feel like nods to Mendelssohn in their sense of wit and spirit.  The scherzo itself may have had some inspiration from Litolff’s Concerto Symphonique No. 4 (c. 1852) with its delight in fast-paced scales and arpeggios abounding (though sometimes it seems like Gottschalk!).  Liszt was an early admirer of the work and eventually it would grow on the French music goers becoming one of Saint-Saens most commonly performed concerti with one of its early commentators (Sigismud Stojowski quipping that it had a “beginning like Back and an ending like Offenbach”).  Perhaps this is its enduring appeal as a melting pot of what was part of 19th-Century musical life.

    The spirit of Beethoven with its focus on significant pitches and motives really reaches its height in the Piano Concerto No. 4 in c, Op. 44 (1875).  The key itself may be worthy of consideration as it is also that of Beethoven’s aforementioned third concerto which Saint-Saens played often and like Beethoven’s fifth symphony, Saint-Saens concerto eventually moves us to a triumphant major finale.  One area of interest is also its cyclical and formal development that mirrors an approach he would use in the third symphony.  There are only two movements here though they are each in two parts (something caught by Chandos which allows access with individual tracks for each section).  At the time the piece was deemed a bit “modern”.  The musical components are used as discussion between soloist and orchestra in a way that was unusual for the time.  Within the formal considerations, a musical motif may suddenly veer off, “influenced” perhaps by something either the orchestra or soloist has said.  Modulations throughout also would have been frustrating to those wanting more traditional harmonic motion.  Another fascinating aspect is the eventual flowering of his big tune in the final movement (something Sibelius would later come to exploit).  While the second has a great show of virtuoso light-heartedness, this is the concerto that wants to establish itself in a line of serious works.  The music is a kindred spirit to Saint-Saens third symphony with Liszt not far in the background.

    Lortie makes about the best case as one can for the first concerto with the virtuosic passage dashed off superbly.  He is supported by the BBC Philharmonic here also providing committed and exciting performances matching the energy and articulations quite well.  One gets the sense of a young show off performer dashing off these passages hands flying up and down for the delight and awe of the audience, especially the young ladies.  When things begin to shift into the more expansive second concerto, both soloist and orchestra accommodate the adjustment with Lortie’s massive chordal and fast-paced passage work really shining here as well.   Here Lortie moves us into the realm of the mature pianist with the “troubled” reflections being given added depth where needed and switching gears for the lighter moments with ease.  And bubble these salon-like moments do with a sense of excitement that grabs a hold of the listener and makes one wonder why this concerto hovers at the fringe of the repertoire.  He adds the appropriate weight to the fourth and helps make a strong case for this concerto as well.

    It should be quite clear that Lortie and Gardner are well suited to take on this music and this first volume of the proposed whole cycle is a stellar start to what may become the touchstones of performances for these pieces.  Recorded in January this year and already released, the label obviously knows they have captured something very special.  Sound and balance is superb with crystal clear and warm acoustics.  The piano feels a bit forward at times, but this is more the writing than any artificial adjustment.  All around it is an excellent addition to the Saint-Saens discography.