Saint-Saëns: Symphony No 1 & The carnival of the animals
Utah Symphony, Thierry Fischer (conductor)
CDA68223
Don’t be fooled by those well-known portraits of Saint-Saëns the bearded éminence grise—the two symphonies recorded here are the work of the young Camille, spreading his compositional wings and displaying a technical fluency far beyond his teenage years. In between, a certain musical menagerie roars, clucks, brays and squawks for attention …