Search - Camille Saint-Saens, Michel Plasson, L'Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse :: Piano Concerti 1-5

Only for the enthusiast

Paul S. | California | 02/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Entremont does a great job on the more popular #2 and #4. His old performance of #2 with Ormandy is even livelier, but its sound is obsolete; these newer recordings offer very good (albeit remastered analog) sound. If you will spare no expense to have the very best performances of #2 and #4, you should seriously consider this set.



But Pascal Rogé and Charles Dutoit do a much better job of extracting the maximum musical merit from the lesser concerti--see the reviews of that set, where several reviewers actually conclude that all 5 works are equal. This applies particularly to #5: little profundity, but plenty of fun. It helps that Dutoit generally gives the orchestral parts more verve than Plasson, whose Toulouse players do create a gorgeous sound. While Rogé doesn't match Entremont's vitality in #2, it's not a bad performance. Overall, I'd put Rogé ahead of Entremont. I haven't heard the Collard set (portions I've heard on the radio sounded very good)."