Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4 Louis Lortie

• Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921): Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 17, R. 185:
• 1 Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 17, R. 185: I. Andante - Allegro assai 11:00
• 2 Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 17, R. 185: II. Andante sostenuto, quasi adagio 07:15
• 3 Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 17, R. 185: III. Allegro con fuoco 06:28
• Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22, R. 190:
• 4 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22, R. 190: I. Andante sostenuto 10:27
• 5 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22, R. 190: II. Allegro scherzando 05:36
• 6 Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22, R. 190: III. Presto 06:27
• Piano Concerto No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 44, R. 197:
• 7 Piano Concerto No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 44, R. 197: Ia. Allegro moderato 03:47
• 8 Piano Concerto No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 44, R. 197: Ib. Andante 07:17
• 9 Piano Concerto No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 44, R. 197: IIa. Allegro vivace - Andante 06:20
• 10 Piano Concerto No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 44, R. 197: IIb. Allegro 06:18
• Total Runtime 01:10:55

Info for Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4

Having already mastered such French concertos as Poulenc’s on record, the French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie and Edward Gardner now explore with the BBC Philharmonic the vigorous and progressive world of Camille Saint-Saëns, offering the first of two volumes to contain his complete piano concertos.

The brilliance, virtuosity, and technical perfection of Louis Lortie’s playing encapsulate these unusual, yet exhilarating works. While the spirited, unconventional Concerto No. 1 centres round a slow movement consisting of a dialogue between the sober orchestra and virtuosic piano, the technical requirements of No. 2 are so high that Saint-Saëns himself after its premiere admitted that his fluent technique was not quite up to the challenge. Finally, the unusual form and mixed musical ideas of No. 4 make for a uniquely dramatic, passionate, and dream-like experience.

“… Passionately delivered, with a personality all of its own, outstandingly produced and engineered, this is a release to relish. Concertos 3 and 5 eagerly awaited.” (Ates Orga, ClassicalSource)

“… With this spectacular but distinguished CD, neither flashy nor noisy, Lortie and Gardner have probably achieved their most impressive opus.” (Christophe Huss, Le Devoir)

Louis Lortie, piano
BBC Philharmonic
Edward Gardner, conductor

Louis Lortie
French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie has attracted critical acclaim throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. He has extended his interpretative voice across a broad range of repertoire rather than choosing to specialize in one particular style. The London Times, describing his playing as "ever immaculate, ever imaginative", has identified the artist's "combination of total spontaneity and meditated ripeness that only great pianists have".

Mr. Lortie has performed complete Beethoven sonata cycles at London's Wigmore Hall, Berlin's Philharmonie, and the Sala Grande del Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan. Die Welt described his Berlin performances as "possibly the finest Beethoven since the time of Wilhelm Kempff." As both pianist and conductor with the Montreal Symphony, he has performed all five Beethoven concertos and all of the Mozart concertos. Mr. Lortie has also won widespread acclaim for his interpretation of Ravel and Chopin. He performed the complete works of Ravel in London and Montreal for the BBC and CBC, and is renowned all over the world for his performances of the complete Chopin etudes.

Louis Lortie celebrated the bicentenary of Liszt's birth in 2011 by performing the complete Années de pèlerinage at international music capitals and festivals, and he returns to Carnegie Hall in 2014 to perform it there. His Chandos recording of this monumental work was named one of the ten best of 2012 by the New Yorker magazine.

In 2013-2014 Mr. Lortie tours in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and returns to the BBC Proms, the orchestras of St. Louis, Atlanta, Dallas, Vancouver, Detroit, the Suisse Romande, Nurnberg, BBC Philharmonic, Dresden and Hamburg, play/conducts a Mozart program for the Toronto Symphony, and performs recitals in the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia, Warsaw, Montreal, Bournemouth, the Casals Festival, the Sydney Opera House, the National Arts Center, Duke University and in Milan.

Last season he performed Gershwin in Sao Paulo with Tortelier, Liszt with NHK Tokyo and Dutoit, Chopin with the Cleveland Orchestra and Van Zweden, Schubert and Liszt with Krivine in Utrecht, Mozart with the Royal Philharmonic and Dutoit; toured with the La Scala Orchestra playing Brahms 2 and with the Beethoven Orchester Bonn playing Beethoven 4 and 5. He returned to Chicago's Orchestra Hall and other important venues to perform a recital program of opera transcriptions called "Lortie goes to the Opera". Other recitals included Copenhagen, Osaka, Cremona and Dresden.

Louis Lortie has performed with the world's leading conductors, including Riccardo Chailly, Lorin Maazel, Jaap Van Zweden, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Charles Dutoit, Kurt Sanderling, Neeme Järvi, Sir Andrew Davis, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Mark Elder, Hannu Lintu, and Osmo Vänskä. He has also been involved in many chamber-music projects with such musicians as Frank Peter Zimmermann, Leonidas Kavakos, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, the Takács Quartet, and Gidon Kremer. His regular piano-duo partner is fellow Canadian Hélène Mercier.

He has made more than 30 recordings for the Chandos label, covering repertoire from Mozart to Stravinsky, including a set of the complete Beethoven sonatas and the complete Liszt's Années de pèlerinage. His recording of the Lutosławski Piano Concerto and Paganini Variations with Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony was released last year, as well as his latest Chopin album, which was named one of the best recordings of 2012 by the New York Times. Future recording include a disc of Liszt's transcriptions.

Mr. Lortie's recording of Beethoven's Eroica Variations earned him an Edison Award. His disc of works by Schumann and Brahms was named one of the best CDs of the year by BBC Music Magazine, which also named his disc of Chopin etudes one of "50 Recordings by Superlative Pianists." His interpretation of Liszt's complete works for piano and orchestra with the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague was a Gramophone Editor's Choice. For the Canadian label ATMA Classique, he has recorded Mendelssohn concertos with the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec and, as conductor, Mendelssohn's "Reformation" Symphony.

Louis Lortie studied in Montreal with Yvonne Hubert (a pupil of the legendary Alfred Cortot), in Vienna with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and subsequently with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher. He made his debut with the Montreal Symphony at the age of 13; three years later, his first appearance with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra led to an historic tour of the People's Republic of China and Japan. In 1984, he won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was also prizewinner at the Leeds Competition. In 1992, he was named Officer of the Order of Canada, and received both the Order of Quebec and an honorary doctorate from Université Laval. He has lived in Berlin since 1997 and also has homes in Canada and Italy.

Booklet for Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4