Saint-Saëns: Cello & Violin Ctos/Vogler & Wang

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Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

In his latest project for Berlin Classics, cellist Jan Vogler gives us a rapturously sweet Saint-Saëns. It’s a good match of repertoire and artist, even if not quite as memorable as Fournier on DG. But it’s big and open-hearted, and he manages to pump up the excitement level with sharp phrasing, and conductor Thierry Fischer meets Vogler in rhythmic verve and pointed articulation, particularly in his handling of the strings. It’s too bad that the other soloist featured on this disc, Chinese-born violinist Mira Wang, proves less flexible and warm than her partner. Admittedly, Saint-Saëns’ third violin concerto is hardly an earthshaking work, but Wang goes after long notes with a strident, aggressive (even ugly) tone that’s at great odds with the glittering fast passages, which she pulls off easily. Taken together, the result is too Jekyll-and-Hyde to work well.

The less-common The Muse and the Poet, for violin, cello, and orchestra is an interesting way to round out the disc. Written in Egypt in the winter of 1909-10, the piece only gained its programmatic title at the behest of the composer’s publisher. Despite that flight of fancy (or instance of gimmicky marketing) it’s a meandering fantasy with a haphazardly grand ending; perhaps it’s not surprising that it’s never really gained an audience. The orchestral sound in The Muse and the Poet is significantly muddier than in the two concertos, and the recording environment is too dry in any case.


Recording Details:

Reference Recording: Cello Concerto: Fournier (DG)

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS - Cello Concerto No. 1; La muse et le poète; Violin Concerto No. 3

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