Alexandre Kantorow (piano), Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
BIS · BIS2400 · 84 minutes
Saint-Saëns wrote these early concertos with a kind of glittering, high-spirited wit that can easily tip into shallowness in the wrong hands — but Alexandre Kantorow finds the real poetry underneath the sparkle, playing with a ease that makes the fiendish passagework feel almost inevitable. There’s something genuinely special about hearing father and son shape this music together, and the Tapiola Sinfonietta brings a chamber-like transparency that lets every melodic line breathe. BBC Music Magazine gave it five stars for good reason — this one lingers.
Awards:
- BBC Music Magazine — July 2022 — Concerto Choice
- Schallplattenkritik Quarterly Critics Choice — Autumn 2022 — Orchestral Music & Concertos
- International Classical Music Awards — 2023 — Nominated – Concerto
- Gramophone Awards — 2023 Finalists — Shortlisted – Concerto
“The virtuosity is breathtaking, yet nothing is hard-pressed, for the younger Kantorow has that hallmark of the greatest performers of always appearing to have plenty of time…In short, this…”
— BBC Music Magazine, July 2022,5 out of 5 stars
Stephen Hough (piano)City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Hyperion · CDA673312 · 2 hours 35 minutes
Saint-Saëns had a gift for making the piano feel like it was born specifically to show off — glittering, elegant, and just a little bit dangerous — and Stephen Hough understands that instinct completely. His playing here has the fluency of someone who genuinely loves this repertoire rather than tolerating it as a footnote to the Romantic canon, and Oramo and the CBSO match him with an orchestral texture that breathes and sparkles in all the right places. The complete set of all five concertos in one place, performed at this level, is a genuinely rare thing.
Awards:
- Gramophone Awards — 2002 — Recording of the Year
- Gramophone Awards — 2002 — Winner – Concerto
- Gramophone Magazine — November 2001 — Editor’s Choice
- Presto Favourites — Recommended Recording
“If Saint-Saëns’s idiom once answered – and maybe still does – to qualities fundamental to the French musical character, it must be said straight away that Hough sounds the complete insider….”
— Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
Bertrand Chamayou (piano)Orchestre National de France, Emmanuel Krivine
Erato · 9029563426 · 77 minutes
Saint-Saëns had this incredible ability to write piano music that sounds effortless while actually being fiendishly demanding, and Chamayou clearly relishes every bit of that tension. His playing in the Second Concerto has a real snap to it — that famous opening cadenza feels spontaneous rather than premeditated, which is genuinely tricky to pull off. Krivine and the Orchestre National de France match his energy without ever crowding him, making this one of those recordings where soloist and orchestra seem to be having a genuinely good time together.
Awards:
- Presto Recordings of the Year — Finalist 2018
- Presto Recording of the Week — 21st December 2018
- Gramophone Awards — 2019 — Recording of the Year
“The nimbleness and fluidity of his playing is remarkable. It’s a zingy performance (of the Second Concerto) all round, with a vigorous performance from the Orchestre National de France, conducted…”
— BBC Music Magazine, November 2018,4 out of 5 stars
Igor Markevitch, Jeanne-Marie Darré, Leonid Kogan, Jascha Heifetz, Charles Munch, Bela Siki, Geza Anda, Philharmonia orchestra, Louis Fourestier, Orchestre national de la radiodiffudion française, Pierre Monteux, Boston Symphony Orchestra, William Steinberg, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre…
Diapason · 43636 · 78 minutes
Saint-Saëns had this gift for music that sounds effortless but actually demands tremendous precision and wit from performers — and this anthology earns its place by assembling people who genuinely got that. Heifetz brings his trademark laser intensity to the Havanaise, Darré throws herself into the Second Piano Concerto with real Gallic flair, and Monteux conducting the Boston Symphony in the tone poems feels like catching a direct line back to how this music sounded in its natural habitat. The whole thing moves through moods — macabre, tender, playful, grand — without ever feeling like a random grab-bag.
Awards:
- Building A Library — September 2021 — Historic Recommendation
Featuring pianists including Stephen Hough, Seta Tanyel, Piers Lane, Nikolai Demidenko, Martin Roscoe, Howard Shelley, Peter Donohoe, Marc-André Hamelin and Steven Osborne
Hyperion · CDS4470150
Few series in the recorded catalogue have done more to rescue genuinely gorgeous music from undeserved obscurity than the Romantic Piano Concerto, and hearing Hough, Hamelin, Osborne, and the rest gathered together in one box makes the sheer ambition of the project land all over again. These are concertos by composers who knew exactly what they were doing — the writing is lush, idiomatic, and full of personality — and the pianists here meet that richness with playing that’s both technically immaculate and emotionally alive. Put on almost anything at random and you’ll find yourself immediately curious about the composer, which is really the highest compliment you can pay a collection like this.
Awards:
- Gramophone Magazine — May 2026 — Editor’s Choice
“Is this handsomely produced box-set worth acquiring? As a work of art alone, yes! If you have not encountered these works before, do not hesitate. Dip in anywhere and you will be rewarded. Assuming…”
— Gramophone Magazine, May 2026
