Saint-Saëns
Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 5, ‘The Egyptian’
Simon Trpčeski (piano); Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Thomas Søndergård
Linn CKD770 50:49 mins
Sensing the listener would probably want to join in, Linn Records wisely ended this album with 22 seconds of clamorous audience applause after the Macedonian star pianist Simon Trpčeski ended his sparkling galop through the adorably jolly finale to Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5.
Actually, I felt like applauding even during the album’s very first track, when Trpčeski dispatched the Second Concerto’s rather Bachian opening remarks with an imposing depth of sound worthy of a cathedral organ, only to switch in the blink of an eye to gossamer lightness, rhythmic panache and extreme dexterity in astonishingly crisp arpeggio runs.
I felt like applauding even during the album's very first track
Not that this pianist hogs the spotlight beyond the occasional musical wink: throughout these live performances in Glasgow, the dominant sense is of Trpčeski’s warm union with his nimble conductor Thomas Søndergård and the excellent Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Nor should we ever leave Saint-Saëns out of the roll of honour. Neither concerto follows what you might call normal procedures, whether in the Second Concerto’s weighty opening Andante, the unusually varied tempos of much of the Fifth, or the sudden and sunny arrival of happy memories of the composer’s Egyptian travels. Whatever his mood, whatever his ploy, Saint-Saëns always knew how to be elegant and memorable (or in other words, French), and keep the listener entertained.
And the final icing on the cake? It is Philip Hobbs and Hedd Morfett-Jones’s splendidly clear and well-balanced recording. This the kind of special triumph generated only when everyone involved is thoroughly enjoying themselves.
