Camille Saint-Saëns: Works for Piano, Vol. 1 Antony Gray

• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Javotte:
• 1 Saint-Saëns: Javotte: I. Bourree 02:13
• 2 Saint-Saëns: Javotte, II. Scene et valse lente 04:39
• 3 Saint-Saëns: Javotte: III. Pas de deux 01:57
• 4 Saint-Saëns: Javotte: IV. Allegretto - Allegro non troppo presto 02:44
• Camille Saint-Saëns:
• 5 Saint-Saëns: Caprice sur les airs de ballet d'Alceste de Gluck 13:22
• Ascanio:
• 6 Saint-Saëns: Ascanio: Scene du mendiant (Excerpts Arr. for Piano Solo) 06:00
• 7 Saint-Saëns: Ascanio: Danse de l'amour (Excerpts Arr. for Piano Solo) 02:49
• Camille Saint-Saëns:
• 8 Saint-Saëns: Valse du "Le prophète" (After Meyerbeer) 06:58
• 9 Saint-Saëns: Henry VIII (Excerpts Arr. for Piano Solo) 07:30
• 10 Saint-Saëns: Paraphrase sur Mandolinata (After Paladihe) 04:37
• Proserpine, R 292:
• 11 Saint-Saëns: Proserpine, R 292: Prelude to Act II (Excerpts Arr. P. Bellenot for Piano Solo) 01:55
• 12 Saint-Saëns: Proserpine, R 292: Pavane (Excerpts Arr. P. Bellenot for Piano Solo) 01:39
• Camille Saint-Saëns:
• 13 Saint-Saëns: La Mort de Thais (After Massenet) 10:27
• 14 Saint-Saëns: Scherzo sur "Les Pecheurs de Perles" (After Bizet) 10:24
• Suite algérienne, Op. 60:
• 15 Saint-Saëns: Suite algérienne, Op. 60: IV. Marche militaire française 04:41
• 16 Saint-Saëns: Suite algérienne, Op. 60: III. Rêverie du soir 04:29
• Camille Saint-Saëns:
• 17 Saint-Saëns: Lola, Op. 116: Tango 04:47
• 18 Saint-Saëns: Élégie, Op. 160 05:46
• 19 Saint-Saëns: Rhasodie d'Auvergne, Op. 73 (Version for Piano Solo) 10:28
• 20 Saint-Saëns: Bénédiction nuptiale, Op. 9 05:30
• 21 Saint-Saëns: Une nuite a Lisbonne, op. 63 "Barcarolle" 04:42
• 22 Saint-Saëns: Souvenir d'Italie, Op. 80 09:21
• 23 Saint-Saëns: Paraphrase sur Las Islena (After Paladilhe) 06:56
• 24 Saint-Saëns: Fantasie sur l'hymne national russe (After A. Lwoff) 01:58
• 25 Saint-Saëns: Africa, Op. 89 (Version for Solo Piano) 12:15
• Total Runtime 02:28:07

Info for Camille Saint-Saëns: Works for Piano, Vol. 1

Saint-Saëns excelled as a composer, conductor, pianist and organist – his composition output is enormous, reaching over 160 titles of which many are substantial – operas, ballets, symphonies – yet today much of his work remains neglected and he is known by a few works only: the Organ Symphony, Samson et Dalila, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals. His original piano pieces are generally light ‘salon’ works but are nonetheless delightful and well formed. His major contribution to the piano works is the equally neglected body of transcriptions (of his own works and those of others) where he was sadly eclipsed by the more outgoing and promotion-minded Franz Liszt. This album and its companion include a number of first recordings, introducing a large body of keyboard gems to a new audience. Volume 1 is divided into two sections: transcriptions from Opera and Ballet, and pieces inspired by specific places.

Antony Gray, piano

Antony Gray (Tony Gray)
was educated in Victoria, Australia. He graduated from the Victorian College of Arts where he studied with Roy Shepherd and Stephen McIntyre, winning several awards and prizes, including the Allans Keyboard Award two years running. In 1982 he received a scholarship from the Astra foundation to continue his studies in London with Joyce Rathbone and Geoffrey Parsons.

Antony Gray, based now in London, has long been regarded as one of the most interesting and communicative performers of his generation. His career to date has encompassed solo and chamber music performances around the world, as well as regular recordings for CD and radio. He has been a (selective) champion of contemporary and, and has premiered many pieces written for him. He has also championed many neglected composers such as George Enescu, Dussek and Martinu. From his time at College he has been a champion of many living composers, and his work with Australian composers Malcolm Williamson and John Carmichael has been particularly productive.

Antony Gray was one of ABC Classics’ most prolific recording artists, having recorded fourteen discs of solo piano music for the label, as well as featuring on a recital disc for KNS Classical and a number of other recording projects. Recordings already released are the complete solo piano works of Eugene Goossens, Malcolm Williamson (this recording has been included in a recent survey of 1001 recordings to hear before you die) and John Carmichael, as well as the late piano pieces of Johannes Brahms, a 3 disc set of Bach transcriptions, including several written specially for the recording, and a 5 disc set of the complete piano works of Francis Poulenc, including a number of works recorded for the first time, all on ABC Classics. His latest work is a project to record all of Camille Saint-Saëns’ piano music, including a large body of unpublished and previously unrecorded works, to be released by Divine Art.

Booklet for Camille Saint-Saëns: Works for Piano, Vol. 1