Camille Saint-Saëns: Complete Symphonies

In a release that marks the centenary of Camille Saint-Saëns’ death in December 1921, the Orchestre National de France, conducted by its music director Cristian Măcelaru, performs the composer’s five symphonies: Nos 1, 2 and 3 and two unnumbered works, the early Symphony in A major and the Symphony in F major, ‘Urbs Roma’. The works span some 35 years of the composer’s dazzling career – from around 1850, when he was 15, to 1886, the year that the Symphony No 3 was premiered. By far the best known of the five, No 3 famously complements the orchestra with an organ, played on this new recording by Olivier Latry.