Saint-Sa毛ns's The Carnival of the Animals in Building a Library with Sarah Devonald and Andrew McGregor
Sarah Devonald chooses her favourite recording of Saint-Saens's The Carnival of the Animals and Ashutosh Khandekar reviews new releases of operas by Weber, Puccini and Strauss.
with Andrew McGregor
9.30 Building a Library
Sarah Devonald chooses her favourite recording of Camille Saint-Sa毛ns's The Carnival of the Animals.
Everyone knows the elegant gliding cello of The Swan from Saint-Sa毛ns's ever-popular Carnival of the Animals. In fact, fearing his 1868 musical menagerie would prevent him from being taken seriously as a composer, it was the only one of its 14 numbers that Saint-Sa毛ns allowed to be published in his lifetime. Indeed, there is a lot of fun to be had as the procession of animals trundles by: lugubrious tortoises barely manage to get their feet off the ground to a slow-motion parody of Offenbach's Can-Can, an elephant galumphs to a transposed version of Berlioz's Dance of the Sylphs and the rattling bones of fossils echo Saint-Sa毛ns's own Danse macabre. Not to mention the regal lion, sparkling aquarium fish and braying donkeys (music critics?), all capped by a glittering finale. It's been endlessly recorded, often attracting a starry line-up of soloists for its chamber ensemble forces, as well as in its perhaps less special orchestration.
10.40
Ashutosh Khandekar reviews new releases of operas, including Weber's Der Freisch眉tz, Puccini's La fanciulla del West and Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos.
11.15
Record of the Week: an outstanding new release.
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