Today ON VINYL VIBRATIONS I FEATURE THE MUSIC OF the MULTI-TALENTED, Camille Saint-Saens.

M1 Saint-Saens: Symphony No.1 in E Flat, Op 2, III Adagio, (Saint-Saens 1853), Capitol Records/Angel, 1973 (10:00)

M2 SAINT-SAENS: Symphony No.2 in A Minor, Op 55, II Adagio, (Saint-Saens 1859), Capitol Records/Angel, 1973 (3:59)

M3 Symphony No.2 in A Minor, Op 55, IV Prestissimo, (Saint-Saens 1859), Capitol Records/Angel, 1973 (7:19)

M4 Saint-Saens: Symphony No.3 in C Minor Op 78 (Organ Symphony), Philadelphia Orchestra, I Allegro Moderato, Poco adagio, (Saint-Saens 1886) Columbia Records, 1963 (9:00)

M5 Saint-Saens: Symphony No.3 in C Minor Op 78 (Organ Symphony), Philadelphia Orchestra, II Maestoso, Allegro, (Saint-Saens 1886) Columbia Records, 1963 (7:20)

M6 The Swan – The Carnival of the Animals XIII, (Saint-Saens 1886), Silhouettes -Virgil Fox/Organ” Capitol Records, 1960 (2:39)

Saint-Saens lived from 1835 to 1921, and was born in PARIS. He was a composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic Era, that’s music that was featured throughout the 19th century. He was a musical prodigy, of course. He had perfect pitch. A grand aunt taught him some piano basics at three, and he was a music pupil at the age of 7. He gave informal performances at the age of 5, and his public debut was at age 10 performing the music of Mozart and Beethoven. He and studied at the Paris Conservatoire starting at age 13 to age 18. His first “job” was a ORGANIST at the Saint Merri Church – 26,000 parishioners. That sounds like a typical trajectory for a young musical prodigy.

But, unlike other music students, Saint-Saens had a broad focus. He was a multi-tracker of the day, with varying and distinguished interests such as the study of Latin, Greek, Divinity and Mathematics. He was talented amateur Astronomer throughout his adult life.

In today’s podcast I review portions of 4 SAINT-SAENS COMPOSITIONS, pieces composed between 1853 and 1886, or when Saint-Saens was from the age of 17 to 50.

We will hear 6 movements from 4 works – those 4 works are

Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 3
Carnival of the Animals