Cecilia Zillliacus: Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns. Born in Paris in 1835. Died in 1921. 86 is not a bad age for a composer. I've always had a soft spot for his music, particularly his chamber music, and his violin concertos. A recent CD features the Swedish violinist Cecilia Zilliacus with, varying, Christian Ihle Hadland (piano) and Stephen Fitzpatrick (harp). I have rarely encountered the playing of Zilliacus in the past, but I really admired her in these Saint-Saëns works. Her husky tone suits the music admirably, and she plays with a wide variety of bowings and dynamics. The first sonata is well known (it was a favourite of Jascha Heifetz). The second sonata is rarely played, but it makes for relaxed and enjoyable listening, so typical of the music of Saint-Saëns who was completely devoid of any Mahler-like Angst and anguish. The Fantaisie Op 124, and the Berceuse Op 38, both with harp accompaniment, make me wonder why there is so very little music for violin and harp. The gentle sound of the harp complements a violin so much better than the more masculine and domineering sound of a piano.

I greatly enjoyed this Saint-Saëns CD. It makes for highly comfortable listening; a bit like a French Haydn, with no stress. Given his long life, Saint-Saëns wrote a very great deal of music. A greater part of it is now rarely played. Our loss. I enjoyed the sound and playing of Cecilia Zilliacus; I know nothing about her, except I have an old CD of her playing Bartok and Dohnanyi. To my surprise, I already have a recording of the "unknown" Fantaisie for violin and harp -- played by Arnold Eidus and E.Vito in 1960. The BIS recording is excellent (BIS is a good company) and well-balanced. I suspect BIS has engineers who know about classical recording, unlike many companies who just seem to use pick-up free-lance recording specialists who may record a pop group on Monday, a jazz band on Tuesday, and a string quartet on Wednesday.