Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Charles Dutoit, London Sinfonietta, Pascal Rogé & Philharmonia Orchestra
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| Total: 17 Songs |
Customer Reviews
Strange, wonderful music
This album has some of Saint-Saens most beloved works on it, chiefly "Danse Macabre" and "Le Carnaval des Animaux". These, along with his Piano Concerto No.2 in G minor and his Symphony No.3( the famous "Organ Symphony") are probably his best known works, and for good reason. Here I am going to discuss "Le Carnaval des Animaux". If you want to see my review of Danse Macabre, search for the album with Kyung Wa Chung and Mr.Dutoit(who is also the conductor of this album). "Le Carnaval des Animaux" is a wonderful piece, full of musical jokes and references to other composers. For this very reason, Saint-Saens would not permit any of it save "Le Cygne" to be published during his lifetime, fearing that it would damage his reputation as a composer. Ironically, when it was published after his death, it restored his waning popularity. The most humorous pieces in this suite are "Tortues", which features a very greatly slowed down version of Offenbach's famous can-can from "Orpheus in the Underworld" ; "Pianistes", which is supposed to depict young piano students clumsily practicing their scales, and "Fossiles", the most humorous piece. The xylophone is supposed to depict the rattling of the fossils' bones, and the motif that the xylophones repeat many times is from Saint-Saens own "Danse Macabre". It also has references to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", and Jean-Baptiste Lully's famous piece, "Claire de Lune". Buy this album, you won't regret it.
a masterpiece for all ages
we are playing the carnival in orchestra and this cd has helped so much! being able to listen and fingure our parts at the same time has allowed us to master this faster!!!!!! now that us bass players know what to play and when to play it shall be the perfect piece for festival!
Carnival of the Animals - for kids
This is an excellent performance for Kids as well. It's included in the Baby IQ cd !
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