Thierry Fischer And Utah Symphony Complete Saint-Saëns Recording Cycle On Hyperion Records, November 29

The third and final volume of Utah Symphony's Saint-Saëns recording series is released digitally and on disc by Hyperion Records on Friday, November 29. Conducted by Music Director Thierry Fischer, this collection includes the first commercial recordings of the complete Saint-Saëns symphonies by an American orchestra, and each volume also looks beyond the composer's symphonic output to include additional orchestral highlights in his oeuvre. The new album features Symphony No. 1 in E-flat major; Symphony in A major, written when the child-prodigy composer was only 15 years old; and The Carnival of the Animals. Pre-orders for Volume 3 are currently available from hyperion-records.co.uk.

Mr. Fischer and the Utah Symphony recorded all three volumes of the Saint-Saëns cycle live in concert at Salt Lake City's Abravanel Hall during the 2017-18 season. Reflecting on the project, Mr. Fischer said:

"It has been deeply fulfilling to trace with the orchestra the symphonic development of such a pivotal French Romantic as Saint-Saëns-from the seldom-heard symphonies on this album, both written when he was a teenager, to a beloved masterpiece like the "Organ" Symphony. Indeed, one of our goals has been to paint a picture of Saint-Saëns as more than just the composer of a few favorites. Our journey through his lesser-known works has been especially satisfying since they are not mere historical curiosities, but have a charm all their own, thanks to the composer's rare genius from a very young age. There is always something to admire in the music of Saint-Saëns, and we hope listeners come away with a richer appreciation for his art!"

Saint-Saëns composed his first symphonic work, the Symphony in A major, around 1850. In the recording liner notes, Roger Nichols writes that this piece is "astonishing for a fifteen-year-old in its technical savoir faire" and stylistically follows in the footsteps of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, among others. Three years after composing the A-major symphony, Saint-Saëns composed another in E-flat major, designating it his Symphony No. 1. He wrote this symphony for much larger orchestral forces, and it reflects the influence of his friend and mentor Gounod. The most famous work on the album is The Carnival of the Animals, written in 1886. The penultimate movement, "The Swan," was published in Saint-Saëns's lifetime, but the complete suite only appeared posthumously in 1922.

The three volumes of this cycle mark Mr. Fischer's fourth, fifth, and sixth recordings with the Utah Symphony. Volume 1 comprises Symphony No. 3 ("Organ") in C minor, featuring organist Paul Jacobs; "Danse Bacchanale" from Act III of the composer's opera Samson et Dalila; and Trois tableaux symphoniques d'après La foi. On Volume 2, Symphony No. 2 and the "Urbs Roma" Symphony are featured alongside Danse macabre, which includes a solo part performed by Utah Symphony concertmaster Madeline Adkins.

Throughout his career, Mr. Fischer has been especially active as a conductor of the French repertoire-from classics by Debussy and Ravel to contemporary works by Pierre Boulez and Tristan Murail. Of his 14 albums on Hyperion prior to these Saint-Saëns recordings, over half are devoted to works by Francophone composers, including Fauré, Françaix, Honegger, d'Indy, Lalo, Martin, Poulenc, and Widor. The Saint-Saëns cycle marks his first recordings of the French repertoire with the Utah Symphony, and in February 2020, an all-Berlioz album with the orchestra is also planned for release on Hyperion. In concert this season, he leads the orchestra in a season-long exploration of Messiaen's Des canyons aux étoiles, a twelve-movement work inspired by the birds and rugged features of southern Utah.