Day 10: Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saens
At one time I used to listen to Carnival of the Animals
regularly, but it’s another CD that’s been languishing on the shelves for a
while, despite Saint-Saens being my favourite composer (have I told you that before?!)
In fact, it’s been such a long time that I’d forgotten all
the animals who are represented in the piece! And that’s what it is – musical
representations of animals (including humans!) One of the most famous pieces
from this orchestral suite is The Swan, a piece for cello which is just so
sublimely graceful, and one of my favourites is the Elephants – played by
double bass.
The recording I listened to was by the Sinfonia da Camera,
conducted from the piano by Ian Hobson. This recording was made using the
original instrumentation: 2 pianos, 2 violins, a viola, a cello, a double bass,
flute, clarinet, celeste and xylophone. Given the relative simplicity of this
original instrumentation, the evocation of each of the animals is quite superb!
Just wondering, as this is only my second week in this
quest, am I going to listen to a piece of Saint-Saens music every week??
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