Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Violin Sonata No.1 in D minor Op.75 (1885)
Violin Sonata No.2 in E flat major Op.102 (1896)
Fantasie for violin and harp in A major Op.124 (1907)
Berceuse Op.38 (1871, arr. for violin and harp by Stephen Fitzpatrick)
Cecilia Zillicus (violin)
Christian Ihle Hadland (piano)
Stephen Fitzpatrick (harp)
rec. 2021, Lilla Salen Västerås Konserthus; Grünewaldssalen Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden
BIS BIS-2489 SACD [67]
This excellent new disc from BIS is a timely reminder about what a fine and wide-ranging composer Camille Saint-Saëns was. Perhaps because his fame is so strongly associated with a tiny handful of works from The Carnival of the Animals and by extension The Swan to the Organ Symphony and Danse Macabre. Perhaps because he did not follow a Nationalist school or did not subscribe to Impressionism or the cult of Wagner. Perhaps because he seems too prodigal with too fluent a facility it becomes easy to leave his music in the drawer marked “nice but superficial….”. The two violin sonatas offered here triumphantly refute that glib dismissal. Here we have a pair of well-proportioned substantial and attractive works that appeal to the listener on every level from excitingly virtuosic to melodically engaging and formally satisfying. Yet much the same could be said of the substantial amount of chamber music Saint-Saëns wrote. The recent Warner 34 CD Saint-Saëns Edition devotes seven discs to this genre including sonatas for violin, cello and various wind instruments plus quartets, trios, quintets plus various miniatures.
Given their attractive appeal the catalogue offers several alternatives to this new recording although not as many as perhaps the music deserves. For the most comprehensive survey of Saint-Saëns’ music for violin and piano the collector needs to consider the three disc survey on Naxos from Fanny Clamagirand which is excellent both in terms of the musical range and the performances. Quite whether the general collector needs every transcription and minor morceaux that Saint-Saëns wrote for violin and piano will be for an individual to decide. The ‘key’ works are the two sonatas along with the late and interesting Triptyque Op.136 (a sonata-but-in-name kind of work) which has not been included here. In place of that we are given the also late and rarer (on disc at least) Fantasie in A major Op.124 for violin and harp. Jean-Pascal Vachon’s very helpful liner note makes the point that when Saint-Saëns came to write his first completed violin sonata in 1885 he was working in a genre for which there was no significant tradition in French music at that time. Hence his modelling of the Violin Sonata No.1 in D minor Op.75 on Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. The work – much like the famous Symphony No.3 ‘Organ’ is written in two movements, each of which is in two linked parts. Another similarity is the use of a recurring theme that gives the work a very effective formal unity.
In all of his works for solo instrument and orchestra or keyboard/harp Saint-Saëns writes at a high level of technical virtuosity whether in terms of manual dexterity or by demanding superb poise and tonal control. In both regards violinist Cecilia Zilliacus, pianist Christian Ihle Hadland and harpist Stephen Fitzpatrick are excellent. Likewise BIS have given the artists one of their typically fine, beautifully balanced SACD surround/stereo recordings – I listened to the SACD stereo layer. Direct sonic comparison with Clamagirand suggests that BIS have placed their performers fractionally further back from the microphones than Naxos but both are attractively truthful airy recordings. According to the liner Saint-Saëns was rather proud of this work claiming it to be “a comet-like sonata that will ravage the universe by sowing terror and rosin in its path.” This directly references the very demanding moto-perpetuo-like closing Allegro molto but even the opening Allegro agitato – with its fairly explicit Beethovian storm and stress – has a power and energy that is not instantly associated with this composer. Here I feel Zilliacus scores fractionally over the poised Clamagirand by emphasising the febrile drama of the work. My favourite version of both sonatas comes from the brilliant Philippe Graffin with pianist Pascal Devoyon on Hyperion who combines flair and finesse as well as the ability to turn a phrase and caress a melody that is indefinably Gallic and ‘right’. Graffin attacks the closing Allegro molto at an even more challenging tempo than Zilliacus or Clamagirand. But that said Zilliacus is very good indeed – her phrasing of the melting Adagio is freely expressive without ever becoming indulgent – I challenge any admirer of violin and piano music not to be engaged by this music and the performance.
As Saint-Saëns himself acknowledged the Violin Sonata No.2 in E flat major Op.102 is quite different. The composer wrote; “It is not a concert-sonata like the first one, it is very serious chamber music; it will not be understood until the eighth hearing”. That reads somewhat defensively but there is a marked difference. The earlier work is explicitly virtuosic and makes dramatic gestures. The second sonata, even though it was first performed by the great virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate, looks back to the Classicism and precision of Mozart – a composer Saint-Saëns admired without reserve. This is perhaps most evident in the finale which here is a poised Allegro grazioso in comparison to the first sonata’s helter-skelter conclusion. Again he makes great technical demands of the players – this is not a work that can be allowed to sound at all effortful – the trick for the musicians is to make it appear easier the harder it gets. Certainly Zilliacus and Hadland achieve this although Clamagirand’s understated elegance is equally delightful.
As mentioned the Fantasie in A major Op.124 for violin and harp is both a substantial work – here 14:29 – and relatively rare on disc. When it has appeared it is either as part of a recital of French music for harp and other instruments or as a mixed programme of Saint-Saëns chamber works. As far as I can tell it has not appeared as a coupling with the violin sonatas previously. Clamagirand does not include the work at all since – perhaps surprisingly – there is no piano and violin version. Zilliacus is joined by the excellent Stephen Fitzpatrick. This work is a fine example of Saint-Saëns’ skill at handling different instrumental textures. The character of the work is quite different from the two sonatas with a sensual yet diaphanous freedom to the writing that is dictated by the use of the harp. The work’s formal structure follows this as well as the title implies as does the writing for the violin. There is a great improvisatory spirit in the violin writing that is sympathetically caught by Zilliacus. Again the sophistication of the BIS engineering finds an ideal balance between the violin and harp with the sound-picture natural and unforced but the tonal beauty of both instruments beautifully realised. But this is not to imply that this work is just some study in misty half-lights. In his later years Saint-Saëns became notorious for his dismissal of both Impressionism and Neo-Classicism (let alone the Second Viennese School) in a way that undermined his own stature as a composer and leading figure in French culture. However, there are fascinating elements in this 1907 Fantasie that seem to embrace aspects of Debussy’s early music almost despite his public criticisms and they are beautifully caught here in this subtle and sophisticated performance. I do not know many other versions of this work – Graffin included it on another mixed recital for Hyperion for example that I have not heard.
The disc is completed with a transcription for violin and harp by Fitzpatrick of the popular and very attractive Berceuse Op.38. Along with Elgar, Saint-Saëns seemed to have this ability to produce almost at will, miniatures that are both typical of their composer, melodically attractive and yet musically rewarding. In the liner Fitzpatrick notes that the arrangement is more of a transcription with the keyboard original requiring very little reworking to suit the harp. Again the performance here is delightful – it is much harder than people might think to play superficially simple music such as this with the degree of poise and unmannered sophistication as here. I like this being placed last as it gives the programme a sense of gently reflective closure.
Although recorded in two different locations the sound is consistently attractive across the disc. Zilliacus draws great and expressive range from her Gagliano violin as does Hadlund from the Steinway D concert grand piano. Likewise the colour and timbral variety of Fitzpatrick’s Lyon & Healy harp is just beautiful. So a wholly enjoyable and very attractive programme performed and recorded with great skill and sensitivity. Perhaps for the sonatas alone I wouldjust lean towards Graffin on Hyperion but the two works with harp makes this a unique and tempting coupling. In whichever performance there is no doubt that these are wholly enjoyable works that deserve to be better- known.
Nick Barnard
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