Saint-Saëns : Symphonies, Vol. 3

Album review

The third volume in Marc Soustrot's series on Naxos of the five symphonies of Camille Saint-Saëns presents one of his least familiar works, the Symphony in F major, "Urbs Roma," an early effort from 1856, written when the composer was 21 years old. The symphony won a prize at a competition held by the Bordeaux Société Ste Cécile, no doubt in recognition of Saint-Saëns' skillful orchestration and many striking passages that, by turns, evoke Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. However, Saint-Saëns thought so little of the piece that he didn't publish it, and it subsequently suffered from decades of neglect. With little coverage in the concert hall or on CD, this symphony deserves a break-out recording, and Soustrot's performance with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra may be the one to secure this symphony a place in the standard repertoire. Programmed with the somewhat obscure tone poem, La jeunesse d'Hercule, and the extremely popular Danse macabre, the symphony has a fine presentation, and if Soustrot has performed a service for Saint-Saëns' music, it may be in giving new life to this long forgotten work.
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